


at the place and cross between sleep and death, sleep and awake, nothing shall part us in our love at the world of ocean and sky

by thekeytoeverything



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/F, Post-2x16, Sorry?, i hope you pay attention to all the details...., it's also only going to get darker from here, mythology/fairy tale alternate universe/canon divergent, no powers!hope, no supernatural abilities!hope, soulmatism me thinks, things are only going to get more complicated from here on out, will she get them back???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekeytoeverything/pseuds/thekeytoeverything
Summary: When Hayley Marshall and Klaus Mikaelson passed away, Hope Mikaelson kept on living her life, carrying on as if nothing happened. But the guilt she carried was like a noose around her neck. She never expected, after two long years, after living a whole life thinking that myths, legends, and fairy tales don’t exist, that she would be fighting Malivore and monsters that were only seen in these myths, like dragons. She also never expected to fall for Josie Saltzman while dating Landon Kirby.Even more unexpected was after entering Josie’s mind, Hope unleashed a world of mythology and fairy tales in the real world… as well as in Josie’s mind. But really, who sent these creatures out? Now the Salvatore Boarding School has to deal with creatures from far and wide, of Ancient Greece and Viking-era, Early Middle Ages Scandinavia, of Brothers Grimms books and Hans Christian Andersen collections.ORA hosie mythology/fairy tale alternate universe/canon divergent storyline. (ideas of mythology/fairy tales/and the lore behind the world of ocean and sky part are not my own, see more description in chapter)
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 19
Kudos: 50





	1. l'oscurità di Hope e Josie

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone! this is my new fic! i really hope you like it. it's something completely new for me because i'm not used to writing something so complex yet something that's also part of what i study.

When Hayley Marshall and Klaus Mikaelson passed away, Hope Mikaelson kept on living her life, carrying on as if nothing happened. But the guilt she carried was like a noose around her neck. She never expected, after two long years, after living a whole life thinking that myths, legends, and fairy tales don’t exist, that she would be fighting Malivore and monsters that were only seen in these myths, like dragons. She also never expected to fall for Josie Saltzman while dating Landon Kirby.

Even more unexpected was after entering Josie’s mind, Hope unleashed a world of mythology and fairy tales in the real world… as well as in Josie’s mind. But really, who sent these creatures out? Now the Salvatore Boarding School has to deal with creatures from far and wide, of Ancient Greece and Viking-era, Early Middle Ages Scandinavia, of Brothers Grimms books and Hans Christian Andersen collections.

Alaric Saltzman told his daughter that what she deserved was to be never given up on and when MG and Kaleb told her Hope said “we are not giving up on Josie”, everything clicked into place and the planets aligned once again. Josie Saltzman understood everything that happened in her mind then, Josie Saltzman understood: Hope Mikaelson cared about her as much as she cared about Hope.

Josie Saltzman begged her aunt Bonnie Bennett to help out, and she does. Around the group is the Salvatore School Gang and the Mikaelsons. Bonnie Bennett brings a special machine that records emotional bonds ─ both positive and negative ones. She even mentions a key. Who has strong bonds in this group of people? What is this key? _WHO_ is this key?

At the cross between sleep and death, sleep and awake, Hope Mikaelson and Josie Saltzman cross paths every night, where Josie recounts what happened during the day to Hope and talk about anything and everything, who is still stuck in her mind, where both pretend they don’t have feelings for each other.

“You yourself, will vanish from her mind, from this world. And without your powers, you can’t return to the world you came from.”

“No matter who gets hurt, this will be bad for Hope.”

“We need to go to the world of ocean and sky.”

  
  


Or

  
  


A hosie mythology/fairy tale alternate universe/canon divergent storyline where Hope is without her powers inside of Josie’s mind, Josie’s mind and heart are like separate worlds, and Josie is the only one that can save her, but isn’t the only one that helps her. Will Josie be able to save her? Or will they perish before facing the mystery at the end of the road? And if and when they make it back to the real world, who or what will they encounter and how will they fight these creatures? (ideas of mythology/fairy tales/and the lore behind the world of ocean and sky part are not my own)

* * *

**Chapter 1: l'oscurità di Hope e Josie**

It’s been some time since Hope Mikaelson was turned to stone.

Dark Josie, or really, the darkness within Josie, turned her into stone when Hope defied her. First, by throwing the ax. That was “strike one.” Then, by using magic against her, without even realizing that Dark Josie would siphon it from **_thin air_ ** . That was “strike two.” Finally, she told Josie that she can fight her dark self and **_change the story_ **. That was “strike three,” and Hope turned into stone.

Hope doesn’t know how long she’s been stone, but she feels stuck. Literally and figuratively. She thinks of how she wants to be free for what feels like such a long time.

Unbeknownst to Hope, two figures are looking at her. Wolves. One was the color of silver, with black tints throughout. A being of **_almost_** **_pure light_**. The other was black and gold. A being that represented the **_way to the dawn_** , a being of **_light and dark_**.

Using the power of light, and dark, the wolves release her from the prison of stone she was and quickly disappeared.

Hope Mikaelson is finally able to look downward at herself, after being stuck looking backward. She looks at her hands, moves them. She moves her body around, moves her head around. The exterior, Josie’s subconscious, looks the same. Except it looks less dark now, as if the light has been able to pass through. Hope wonders if this means that Josie was able to beat the darkness within her.

She tries to find a way out, a way to get back to her body. But with no luck, she walks around forever. She tried to use spells, but it didn’t work. She tried to shift into a werewolf, that didn’t work either. There was also no one else here with her… And she’s lost all her powers and supernatural abilities. Great. She really wishes she could have the pig to talk to again. At least she would know that way that **_Josie_ ** was **_safe_ **.

  
  


“Time must be changing in the real world. It’s getting dark, I should find shelter. Tomorrow will be a new day, I guess.”

  
  


As she keeps walking, it gets darker. But she comes across a small flash of light and beyond it─

A figure.

Hope says a small spell, forgetting that her powers don’t work. _Post tenebras spero lucem_. Now she had her own light to see who was the figure, but how was it that her powers were suddenly working again?

At the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake, Hope Mikaelson and the figure intersect one another.

  
  


“Hope?”

  
  


Hope registers everything, **_someone_ **, in shock.

* * *

It’s been six months since Josie was saved by Hope, six months since Hope was stuck in her mind, six months since MG and Kaleb told her that Hope said “ **_we are not giving up on Josie_ ** ”, six months since she understood everything and it was as if all the planets aligned. Six months since she put her magic **_away_ ** and became **_powerless_ **. What her father told her made sense now. But it still felt like time was against them all.

In these six months, their group of friends and Hope’s family has felt this so deeply in their **_hearts_ **.

But wit was on their side.

Josie remembered a story that her father and Aunt Bonnie told her and Lizzie once, a story where Bonnie had died and become an **_anchor_ ** to The Other Side, a place similar to the identity of purgatory, where she was the **_bridge_ ** and helped the dead reach this sort of purgatory, kinda like how Hermes was the guide for the dead to reach the underworld. All they had to do was touch her and their Aunt Bonnie would feel all their pain. But Josie figured that she still had the power and the strength to aid them, even though The Other Side fell apart and doesn’t exist anymore.

Bringing Bonnie in was the right choice. When Josie told her what was going on, she immediately knew what to do. 

Bonnie met with everyone: Landon, Kaleb, MG, Rafael, and the Mikaelsons. For this to work, the twins also had to be present. She begins her explanation.

  
  


“Most of you here don’t know me. I’m Bonnie Bennett, a witch. I come from a powerful line of strong witches that are tied to your friend, and for others, family member, Hope Mikaelson. But the reason why Josie has picked me to help is that not only am I her aunt, but I was also the **_anchor_ ** to The Other Side. Too long of an explanation, but in essence, I was the **_bridge_ ** of **_life and death_ ** and that allowed me to be the **_anchor_ **for some time until it ceased to exist. For us to come together as one and bring Hope back, I’ll need to examine everyone’s emotional connections to her. I’ll also need to talk to The Ancestors, not only witch ancestors but vampire and werewolf ancestors as well. Ancestral ties are also important. I may also need to travel back in time and talk to people, preferably witches, to see if any cases from when they were alive are similar to what is happening to all of us right now. If any such cases exist, of course.”

  
  


Freya and Rebekah were the ones most visibly upset out of everyone. Keelin was a bit distracted from caring for Nik, but could feel the pain her wife was in and was also distraught. Marcel was also helping with Nik, feeling as devastated as all the other Mikaelsons. Freya stands up, Rebekah looking at her, pleading with her to try and stay calm.

  
  


“Why do you need to examine our emotional connections?”

  
  


“Emotional connections are the most powerful connections a person can build. This machine,” she points next to her “will, in principle, examine how everyone feels for Hope.” At this, Landon gets up and leaves the room, because all of this is too much for him and the only thing that he knows to do is run.

  
  


“Once it examines everyone’s feelings, it will then make replicas of all of you and upon having everyone, I can make a replica of Hope using these emotions. The machine will then reveal clues as to who our key could be. Our key is an important figure that will have the strongest bond to Hope outside of her familial bonds. They are the bigger role of this, the one that can bring Hope back. They’re also the person that can communicate with Hope. But make no mistake, The Ancestors’ role in all of this is specifically tied to the strongest ancestral ties. Their emotions are stronger now in death, so they will also be recorded, but for that, because they’re dead, I’ll have to use a journal and then input that data.”

  
  


Upon hearing “can communicate with Hope”, **_someone_ ** flinches in the audience.

Freya sits back down, understanding the explanation. With no one else having any questions, they all begin to get ready for the procedure involving the recording of their emotional connections.

  
  


“For this to work, you all have to close your eyes and open up your hearts. The machine will be connected to me. With these straps,” she puts them on so that everyone can see “it will pick up the energy I receive from your hearts and will register your connection to Hope as well as create your replica.”

  
  


The machine Bonnie uses is the machine invented many, many years ago by a man named Terra “The Clever” Maxfield, great-grandfather of the infamous Wes Maxfield who used to experiment on vampires. Contrary to his great-grandson, Terra used his intelligence to study the supernatural, and their emotions… for good. As is known, vampires have heightened senses, but he was curious that vampires and werewolves were able to maintain enough control and be able to form close bonds. Upon creating his machine, after observing hundreds of vampires, werewolves, and even witches, which he named _Dyrr ut_ _Pathos_ (a mix of Old Norse, Latin, and Ancient Greek words signifying “Door to Emotions”), he began to promote it to many circles of supernaturals. A way to study the heart and all its secrets. Once thought impossible, now became a reality. 

But, the Augustine Society found out about what Terra did and expelled his parents from their scientific community. His parents then began to work for another scientific community, a community that had stronger ties and resources. This gave him enough chance to improve his machine and add something else that was also thought impossible: data replicas. In the second edition of his machine, Terra added the first data replica vampire and their emotions into it, but noticed that the only way to have a complete replica is to have all the vampire’s emotional bonds registered as well. Terra called this the “ **_tracing of connections_ **”. Thus began the registry of other’s emotions.

Bonnie booted up the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ and was going to begin with Freya whenー

  
  
  


“So sorry we’re late, everyone!”

  
  


Kol Mikaelson and his wife Davina Claire-Mikaelson walked in through the doors. Truth be told, Bonnie wasn’t surprised that Kol was late, nor was she all that happy to see him. But a girl was missing and this was too important.

  
  


“Bonnie?”

  
  


“Hi, Kol. So nice to see you again.” The sarcasm was obvious, but she tried to make it less intense with a little smile. “Join the rest of your family, they’ll catch you up on what you missed. We have to start the emotional connection readings now.”

  
  


As Bonne told Freya to sit and prepare herself, she remembered that Landon had left and made a mental note to herself to find him later.

  
  


“I’m ready, Bonnie. One step closer to finding my niece.”

  
  


Bonnie smiled. “One step closer.”

She grabbed the blonde’s hands and closed her eyes as well. Immediately, she felt an intense and powerful feeling.

The _Dyrr ut Pathos_ picked up on this rather quickly and gave the following report:

Registry of Living Relatives/Friends

Status: Complete

Person: Freya Mikaelson

Connection: Aunt of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, honor, responsibility,mentorship, connection of firstborns.

Status of Replica Freya: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 8%

  
  


Upon reading this, Freya stayed staring at the screen and cried. The Mikaelsons began to comfort her.

All the other reports came out with the following:

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Rebekah Mikaelson

Connection: Aunt of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, honor, responsibility, guardianship, sacrifice.

Status of Replica Rebekah: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 16%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Kol Mikaelson

Connection: Uncle of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, honor, responsibility, sacrifice, protection, immense affection.

Status of Replica Kol: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 24%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Keelin Malraux-Mikaelson

Connection: Aunt-in-Law of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, protection.

Status of Replica Keelin: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 32%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Davina Claire-Mikaelson

Connection: Aunt-in-Law of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, empathy.

Status of Replica Davina: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 40%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Marcel Gerard

Connection: Brother of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: family, protection, savior.

Status of Replica Marcel: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 48%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Milton “MG” Greasley

Connection: Friend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: friendship.

Status of Replica MG: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 56%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Kaleb Hawkins

Connection: Friend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: friendship.

Status of Replica Kaleb: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 64%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Rafael Waithe

Connection: Friend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: friendship, jealousy.

Status of Replica Rafael: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 72%

  
  


Bonnie read the screen carefully. Jealousy? So the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ can also register negative emotions and record them? Nowhere in the manual or explanations on the machine did it ever talk about negative emotions… But she figured this was good information for when she had to deal with the ancestors.

The reports kept showing up on the screen.

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Saltzman

Connection: Friend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: renewed friendship, previous intense hatred, good allies.

Status of Replica Lizzie: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 80%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Josette “Josie” Saltzman

Connection: Friend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: ERROR.

Status of Replica Josie: ERROR

Data/Replica Hope: FROZEN at 80%; ERROR

  
  


With Josie’s report, the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ began to beep constantly. Josie and Bonnie both opened up their eyes and Bonne went to check on the machine. Error. But why?

Lizzie was the first to interject. “Aunt Bonnie, why is the screen saying error?” Everyone else gathered around to listen to what Bonnie would say.

  
  


“I honestly have no idea. This is my first time using this machine and I don’t know everything about it.. I’ve read the manual front to back several times before coming here but nowhere in it did it ever indicate anything about an error message.”

  
  


Bonnie turns around and the others are dumbfounded. The _Dyrr ut Pathos_ displays a rapid message:

  
  


ERROR STATUS: FIXED

JOSIE SALTZMAN IS THE KEY TO HOPE MIKAELSON’S RETURN

  
  


Bonnie turns back around and sees that the screen looks the way it did before the error message popped up. Does this mean that everything is back to normal again? She quickly tries to access Data Hope’s files.

  
  
  


Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 96%

  
  


Odd…

  
  


“Okay, everything seems back to normal… All I’m missing is Landon. I’ll try to see if I can go find him. Everyone, you’re all free to go for now. Stay in town,” she looks at the Mikaelsons “for upcoming results after Landon’s data and the Ancestral Ties get recorded in.”

  
  


Bonnie leaves to find out where Landon went, so she thinks of going to Alaric’s office. But that also made her realize that Alaric’s emotional bond wasn’t recorded either.

Josie stayed firm in position, the only one who saw the message.

The key to bringing back Hope Mikaelson. It all was beginning to make so much sense….

* * *

“Hope?”

  
  


Hope registers everything, **_Josie Saltzman_ **, in shock.

  
  


“Jo, is that you?”

  
  


“Yeah, it is.”

  
  


“So, you’re okay?”

  
  


She smiles. “Yeah, I am.”

Hope smiles back. “I’m so glad that you are.”

They stand in comfortable silence around a **_light_ ** where everything else is covered in **_darkness_ **.

In theory, the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake isn’t really a place. It’s a world within a world. Unbeknownst to both girls, Josie’s heart is one world and Josie’s mind is another. Both connected under the same **_sky_ ** . The intersection to both is not the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake, but it leads to said location: the **_world of ocean and sky_ ** . The **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake is the intersection of the **_world of ocean and sky_ **. They’ll learn soon enough.

Hope and Josie decide to sit down and look at this small light within this vast darkness and the auburn-haired girl asked her what she’d been thinking about since she made the spell.

  
  


“Josie, how come I can’t use my magic or turn into a werewolf in your subconscious?”

  
  


“Uh, I think that may be my fault, actually…”

  
  


“What do you mean?”

  
  


“Well, after I came back, I put away my siphon powers into a coin. It’s probably why you can’t do magic here, because I can’t do magic either.”

  
  


Hope looks at her questioningly. “Why did you put your powers away?”

  
  


“Because I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” She looks away from Hope’s gaze.

  
  


“Josie…” She looks at her with forlorn eyes. “You won’t hurt anyone else. The darkness in you? It may be part of you, just like it’s part of all of us as well, because nobody is a being of **_pure light_ ** , but it wasn’t really you. You can control yourself and putting away your powers is just running away from the problem and running away from your problems? That’s only going to hurt you in the end. That’s just the story that you’re telling yourself, this is your chance to once again **_change the story_ **.”

  
  


Josie gasps and looks at Hope wide-eyed. She remembers **_everything_ ** again…

* * *

_After killing the darkness (in the form of a tall wolf) because it ate the pig, Josie coming out of the stomach of the wolf, revealing she was the pig, Josie telling her she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt because of her, Hope telling her she wasn’t going to leave her behind, the darkness transforming back into her original appearance (aka looking like Josie.. Sort of), and running away, Hope and Josie had a conversation about her subconscious._

  
  


_“Are we surprised? My mom used to read us fairy tales for bedtime stories. They were so calming. There was good guys and bad guys. Very clear rules that you had to follow. It all made sense, unlike my life.”_

  
  


_“Well, this fairytale sucks.”_

  
  


_“It’s accurate. I’m either the powerful, petty bitch or the good, weak victim.”_

  
  


_Hope looked at her questioningly. “That’s the story that you’re telling yourself. I mean, your subconscious made a fairy tale that the good you is weak and the powerful you is evil._ **_Tell yourself a different story_ ** _.”_

* * *

Hope chuckles. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  
  


“Uh, no reason.”

  
  


Silence.

  
  


“So, I think you should know, Hope, that we’re trying our best to figure out how to bring you back. We have a whole team and everything. We haven’t done anything just yet, but my Aunt Bonnie is going to bring a machine and stuff to understand what to do next.”

  
  


Hope stares into Josie’s brown eyes and Josie stares into her blue eyes. Both of them pretending they don’t have feelings for each other.

  
  


“Really? Guess trying to find a spell to bring back everyone’s memories of me just wasn’t enough, huh?” Hope smiles, teasing her.

  
  


They both laugh. “Yeah, it really wasn’t.”

She grabs Hope’s hand. “But most importantly, it’s the right thing to do. You deserve to come back. I asked you to stay for a reason.”

Hope tried to hold Josie’s hand back firmly, but now it was the auburn-haired girl’s turn to look at Josie wide-eyed.

Josie snaps out of her thoughts and stares at her hands. That’s the reason: because she knows deep down that she was the only one that reacted to Hope disappearing from everyone’s memories, she was the only one that worked on bringing everyone’s memories back, and now she’s the only one that orchestrated everyone coming together to work on bringing Hope back - the only explanation as to why she’s the key.

She’s the **_connection_ ** . And that’s why the machine indicated her as the key ─ because **_connections_ ** are meant to be **_traced_ **.

* * *

Back in Alaric’s office, Landon was sitting and talking to Dr. Saltzman. Their conversation was about Hope and how he missed her a lot. Throughout the conversation, Alaric was hoping that she hadn’t diverted from the **_path_ ** of **_good_ **.

Bonnie came in, interrupting Alaric’s thoughts and Landon’s, at this point, monologue. She relays to both of them everything, even the mention of the key.

  
  


“Alaric, is it okay if we can start with you first?”

  
  


“Oh, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Why not Landon here first?”

  
  


Landon looks at Dr. Saltzman. “You don’t want to go first because you know the machine will show that your only feelings for Hope consist of her not ending up like her father, isn’t it? That’s why you want me to go first.”

Alaric looks at him in shock. “No, that’s not true. You know I care about her.”

  
  


“Like you care about Josie and Lizzie, right?”

  
  


Bonnie looks at both of them, thinking she talked at a bad time, but quickly removes that thought out of her mind.. “Is this true, Alaric? And why is he suggesting you don’t care about Josie and Lizzie? Does anyone in this room care about the fact that Hope is MISSING?!” She crosses her arms and looks at both of them questioningly and angrily.

Landon goes for the kill first. “No, he only cares about him and his alcohol. He’s been more absent in Josie and Lizzie’s life than most of my foster parents. And that’s already a whole lot to say.”

  
  


“I wouldn’t even be talking, Landon. You act as if you care so much about Hope, yet whenever things go sour, you RUN.”

  
  


“You know what, I’ll go first, I’ll show you that I’m the key. I’m the only other person in this school that has a deep connection to Hope outside of her family.”

  
  


Bonnie started up the _Dyrr ut Pathos_. “If you say so, then sure.” She ignores Alaric throughout the entire process and thinks best not to record him. Hope was above Alaric’s feelings for her, she was more than that.

As she grabbed Landon’s hands, she felt a strong energy from him.

The following report generated from the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ :

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Landon Kirby

Connection: Boyfriend of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: strong platonic bond, extremely weak romantic bond

Status of Replica Landon: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: FROZEN at 96%

  
  


Bonnie looks at the screen and slowly turns to face Landon. “Well, the machine says that you have a strong platonic bond for her, but a very weak romantic bond… That would indicate that you’re not the key, because your bond is not strong enough. And your emotional bond wasn’t powerful enough regardless to further construct Data Hope. I felt a strong energy from you, Landon. I don’t understand why it’s not enough. I think the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ is indicating that she’s not in love with you, she’s in love with someone else.”

  
  


Landon’s heart was shattered. “B-B-But Dr. Saltzman told me that she said we were epic loves, I don’t get how this is possible.”

  
  


“I’m sorry Landon, I really am. But you’re not the key.”

  
  


An awkward silence filled the room, tears threatening to come out of Landon’s eyes.

  
  


“I-I have to go to the ancestral realm now, I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

  
  


Bonnie leaves a distraught Landon and an annoyed Alaric in the room. For her, the Salvatore Boarding House has changed so much since they transformed it to be a school, so trying to find her way was difficult until she found MG and Kaleb somewhere, who knows where she was at this point, and asked them where Josie and Lizzie’s room was. When the boys took her there, she thanked them and they left. She knocked on their door and the twins let her in.

  
  


“I need you two to do me a favor…”

  
  


Josie responded first. “Of course, Aunt Bonnie, what do you need?”

  
  


“I need you to stop my heart.”

* * *

The day after the girls were at the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake, Hope Mikaelson was bored out of her mind in Josie’s subconscious. With no powers and no way to shift into a werewolf, she was stuck just walking around the forest and inside the castle.

She waited for Josie at night at the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake..

But Josie never came.

* * *

Bonnie Bennett was pronounced dead by her nieces at 9:00 PM.

Bonnie Bennett found Peace and was able to reach The Land of the Ancestral Plane.

Unbeknownst to her, she was in an ancestral plane that portrayed the New Orleans Bayou. She began to walk until she reached an area with a dock and a small house. Before reaching the dock, there was a group of people surrounding a fire.

Werewolves.

She ran to them, the werewolves feeling a bit threatened.

  
  


“Stand down. I know her.”

  
  


Hayley Marshall walked towards Bonnie. “Bonnie? What are you doing here?”

  
  


“I could ask you the same thing, but I think we both know part of that answer.”

  
  


“Yeah, we’re both dead. But what are you really doing _here_? This is where I found peace. You’re a witch, shouldn’t you be someplace else?”

  
  


“Well, yes, but I’m here for a reason. Do you and anyone else over there,” she points towards the other werewolves “know a girl by the name of Hope Mikaelson?”

  
  


Hayley looks at her wide-eyed and grabs her arms. “What happened?”

  
  


“So, you do know her?” She looks at Hayley questioningly.

  
  


“Bonnie, she’s my daughter. What happened? Wait, there’s two more people that’ll want to know, but they’re not here. You’ll have to go there after. You need to go see Klaus and Elijah after.”

  
  


“Okay, well, Hope went to save my niece, Josie, in her subconscious and she never came back to her body… So I’m here to record strong ancestral ties in order to put it into a machine that’ll fortify her replica as well as yours…. I’m sorry, Hayley, I had no idea she was your daughter. Which of them is her dad?”

  
  


Hayley is still holding on to Bonnie and she feels like she’s going to fall apart. “My baby girl is missing?”

Bonnie tries to help her, comfort her, but her efforts are futile. She falls to the ground and screams.

Upon her screaming, Klaus and Elijah show up. Klaus kneels next to Hayley, holding her, not noticing that Bonnie is there. Elijah looks at Hayley briefly and then his eyes divert to Bonnie.

  
  


“Bonnie Bennett?”

  
  


“Elijah, you’re dead?”

  
  


“Hayley, are you okay? What happened?”

  
  


“Yes, same as you.”

  
  


“Our baby girl is missing.”

  
  


Looking up, Klaus sees that Bonnie was right in front of them and above them.

  
  


“Bonnie, what happened to Hope?”

  
  


“She’s been missing for six months since she saved Josie. She went inside Josie’s subconscious and she’s been gone since. I’m here because I have a _Dyrr ut Pathos_ that I can register everyone’s emotional bonds to Hope and create data replicas of everyone plus Hope. That way the data replicas can get us a step closer to the key.”

  
  


“A _Dyrr ut Pathos_. I haven’t seen that kind of machine in such a long time. But what is the key?”

  
  


“The key is the one person outside of the family that is able to communicate with her and be able to bring her back.The faster I record everyone, the faster I can find out who that person is.”

  
  


A pause.

  
  


“I know that none of us got along very well while we had to interact with each other back then, but we need to come together to bring Hope back.”

  
  


“And who’s responsible for my daughter’s disappearance?”

  
  


Bonnie thinks about this. “I have no idea, Klaus. Alaric is the headmaster while Caroline is gone looking for a way to stop The Merge from happening with her daughters and from what I heard about the students that are friends with Hope, she’s the only one, along with Josie and Lizzie, that is strong enough to put a stop to all of these monsters that attack the school. And it seems that these monsters show up because of a boy that has a connection to said… _thing_.”

Klaus is extremely pissed off right now. Not at Bonnie, but at what this school has made his daughter be. “So this is Alaric’s fault then, because he doesn’t know how to keep any of these students safe, HE CAN'T KEEP MY DAUGHTER SAFE!”

Bonnie shivers a bit. She’s not cold, but she’s definitely scared of Klaus’ anger. “Klaus, please-”

  
  


“DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN BONNIE BENNETT. THIS IS MY DAUGHTER WE ARE TALKING ABOUT AND IF IT WEREN'T FOR ALARIC, MY DAUGHTER WOULD BE SAFE RIGHT NOW. IF I COULD COME BACK TO LIFE AND KILL THAT INSUFFERABLE PIECE OF SHIT, I WOULD.”

  
  


Hayley turns him around to face her and Elijah. They both grab one of his arms. “Klaus, I understand your anger and your frustration. She’s my daughter, too. But trying to find someone to blame isn’t going to help anyone.”

  
  


“She’s right, Niklaus. Let’s help Hope the best way that we can from our side of things. Let’s let Bonnie record our emotional bonds to her. I want to see my niece safe and sound just as much as you do.”

  
  


Klaus looks at the both of them, tears coming out of his eyes. He knows they’re telling the truth. “I know.” He hugs the both of them and turns around to face Bonnie again.

  
  


“Klaus, wanting to kill Alaric isn’t going to solve the fact that your daughter is still missing. This anger isn’t helping her. I’m helping you out here, okay? Let’s all do this, together.”

  
  


The three of them look at Bonnie and begin the process.

* * *

Bonnie Bennett was pronounced alive by her nieces at 2:00 AM.

Bonnie Bennett came back to life and saw that her nieces had not slept all night, taking care of her body and making sure that she would be okay.

  
  


“Girls, why didn’t you sleep?”

  
  


Lizzie grabbed her hand. “We just wanted to make sure you would come back.”

Bonnie firmly grasped Lizzie’s hand right back. “Of course I would come back, why wouldn’t I? It wasn’t my time, Lizzie.”

Lizzie looked at Josie and then they both embraced Bonnie in a hug.

* * *

The next day, Bonnie recorded Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah’s data into the _Dyrr ut Pathos_.

  
  


The recorded ancestral ties said the following:

Status: Complete

Person: Niklaus “Klaus” Mikaelson

Connection: Father of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: promise, hope, protection, sacrifice, his everything, unconditional love

Status of Replica Klaus: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 97%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Hayley Marshall

Connection: Mother of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: protection, sacrifice, extreme love, would do anything and everything to ensure her safety, unconditional love

Status of Replica Hayley: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 99%

  
  


Status: Complete

Person: Elijah Mikaelson

Connection: Uncle of Hope Mikaelson

Emotional bond: honor, protection, promise, unconditional love

Status of Replica Elijah: Complete

Data/Replica Hope: Completion at 100%

  
  


Bonnie couldn’t help but smile at two things: one, Data Hope was now complete. Two, the three of them have become better beings and it was all thanks to Hope. The three of them were the **_key_ ** to completing Data Hope.

But this wasn’t at all over. Firstly, there were three more ancestral ties to uncover. Secondly, there was also the issue of going back in time. To give her body a rest, she decided it would be easier to time travel first, and go back to the ancestral plane tomorrow.

So that’s what she does.

* * *

Hope waited for Josie all night at the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake.

But she never came.

Hope Mikaelson spent the next day looking around the castle and walking around Josie’s subconscious. Extremely bored out of her mind, Hope had no other form of entertainment except for this.

Night came again, and Hope went to the **_place_ ** , the **_bridge_ ** , the **_path_ ** , the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake once again, in hopes that Josie would come tonight.

And she did.

  
  


“Jo, is that you?”

  
  


“Yeah, it is.”

  
  


Hope ran towards her and pulled her into a deep hug. A deep hug that lasted for so long. A deep hug that no one wanted to pull away from, but they ultimately did.

  
  


“What happened to you last night?”

  
  


“My Aunt Bonnie. She told Lizzie and I to stop her heart… So that she can go to what she calls ‘The Land of the Ancestral Plane.’ It was the only way she could be able to…”

  
  


“To what, Jo?”

  
  


“To talk to… your parents and your uncle.”

  
  


Upon hearing that, Hope visibly flinched.

Josie noticed, however, and explained to her why her Aunt Bonnie needed to do that. She grabs Hope’s hands.

  
  


“I’m sorry, Hope. I know this is tough for you. But my Aunt Bonnie says that ancestral ties and their emotions are just as important as living being’s emotional bonds. Their emotional bonds to you, according to her, are stronger now in death. Once our replicas are complete, they’ll point to who is the key to bringing you back.”

  
  


Saying that last part was difficult for Josie. Her voice was barely above a whisper. She already knew she was the **_key_ ** , she already understood **_why_ ** she was the **_key_ **, but it was a hard pill to swallow, even though it wasn’t a bad thing.

She was… In a deep entrancement with Hope. She was sure she wasn’t in love with Hope, or at least she thinks she’s not. And it seemed like Hope was… also feeling the same.

Since she found out she was the key, she couldn’t stop thinking: _Why? Why her?_ Hope has Landon, why can’t he be the key?

Silly Josie.

She shakes her head to get out of her thoughts. “I’m here for you if you want to talk about this.”

In truth, Hope is feeling a lot of emotions right now and they’re all over the place. Firstly, her parents. It’s been **_two years_ ** since their passing. She’s sure that if they were still alive, she would not be at the Salvatore Boarding School. If they knew that she was some sort of guardian for the school, Dr. Saltzman would be the one to have passed and she would be either homeschooled or have gone to another school for the supernatural. Secondly, her uncle. It’s also been **_two years_ ** since he passed away and that also hurt her as much as her parents passing. The three of them were like a **_lifeline_ ** for her and she misses them deeply.

She misses them deeply.

  
  


“It’s okay. I think I understand. Is your Aunt Bonnie going back to the ancestral realm any time soon?”

  
  


“I-I honestly don’t know. Why?”

  
  


“She should probably try and not do that. Her death could become permanent. How long was she gone the first time?”

  
  


“About 5 hours.”

  
  


Hope winced. 5 hours was a long time to be dead… The time that she had died, the time in which she saw her mom for the very last time… She wasn’t dead for longer than 2 minutes, imagine 5 hours….

  
  


“Tell her she can’t do that again, Josie. She’ll probably won’t come back next time.”

  
  


Josie was shocked. Aunt Bonnie not coming back? She knows that it wouldn’t be the first time that she died, but she just can’t imagine not having her aunt around.

  
  


“O-Okay, I'll tell her.”

  
  


Hope tightens the grasp she has around the brunette’s hands. “I know that must’ve not been easy to hear. I promise I’m always here for you, too.”

  
  


Both of them look at each other intensely and passionately. And just when Hope was about to draw circles on Josie’s hands, she disappeared.

* * *

Bonnie Bennett went back in time at 11:00 AM.

Bonnie Bennett arrived in 1864 Mystic Falls. Which is the same time period her ancestor Emily was alive.

Walking around Mystic Falls was a cinch. How did she know it was Mystic Falls? Well, she may have casually seen a young pair of brothers: Stefan and Damon Salvatore. She knew the story of how both of them became vampires, so she knows that her ancestor Emily was close by.

She found Emily spelling the Gilbert Ring, Gilbert Device, and Gilbert Compass.

  
  


“Emily.”

  
  


Emily stops what she’s doing and looks at her descendant curiously. “Yes, and who are you?”

  
  


“You don’t know me.. Yet. I’m Bonnie Bennett, your descendant. You came to possess me once when I was a teenager. But I’m here because something weird is happening in my time and I was wondering if you could help me out.”

  
  


Emily looks at her slyly. “What’s going on?”

  
  


“A girl is missing after entering another witch’s subconscious. No one knows where she is. Has this ever happened before?”

  
  


“Well, if she entered someone’s subconscious, that means she’s a vampire or was put in there by a vampire, am I correct?”

  
  


Bonnie thinks about this before answering. “Yes. From what I was told, a friend of hers who is a vampire put her in there.”

  
  


“I have never heard of such a thing.”

  
  


Bonnie stares at her dumbfoundedly. “So, you’re telling me you figure how she entered there, which I already knew, but you don’t know where she could be? And this has also never happened before, according to you?”

Emily smiles. “You are correct.”

Bonnie scoffs. “This has been a total bust. Thanks for your gracious help.”

She leaves Emily to what she was doing before and travels again.

Bonnie Bennett went back to the present at 12:30 PM.

* * *

_Whitmore College - 1900_

Terra Maxfield was working on his new invention, which he calls the _Dyrr ut Pathos_. He finally was able to recreate replicas in the form of data and he was proud of his research as well as how far he’s come.

Behind him, a ginger-haired woman that was resurrected in 2012... And traveled back in time, was approaching slowly.

  
  


“There’s a high price to pay for all of this, Dr. Maxfield.”

  
  


Terra turns around, startled. “Who-Who are you?”

The woman smiles. “Someone. A witch. You don’t need to know who I am, the only thing you need to know is where I come from. The future.”

  
  


“That’s impossible, time travel doesn’t exist.”

  
  


“It does for witches who want to make sure that **_someone_ **ceases to exist.”

  
  


“What do you mean? And what price would that be?”

  
  


She laughs. “After I finish here, I will go back to the time I was resurrected in and pretend I have done no wrong. Pretend to be a lover to someone that I have betrayed and try my best to attempt the sacrifice to the ancestors. But Dr. Maxfield, you and your machine are done now. Your journey ends here.”

He gasps. “What?” He moves farther away from her, even tries his best to put some distance between the woman the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ by trying to hide it.

  
  


“Your attempts are futile. _Namia Exum Solvos_.”

  
  


A boundary of fire surrounded Terra and the _Dyrr ut Pathos_. “Why are you doing this?”

  
  


“She is our destruction, our downfall. She will be the end of us all. And I won’t let her return after she’s got the one chance of being destroyed. I know my mission won’t work, but this one, killing you and destroying your machine, will be **_her end_ ** . _Phasmatos incendia_.”

  
  


“I guess my time in this world is─”

  
  


And Terra screams in pain, as the woman watches him die with a smile on her face. If only she knew her happiness would be short lived, if she only knew that the _Dyrr ut Pathos_ was indestructible.

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day_

Bonnie had gathered up everyone and began to tell them of what happened.

  
  


“The good news is that I was able to record most of the ancestral ties and Hope’s data replica has been fully constructed. The bad news is that I had traveled back in time and upon meeting with my ancestor, she informed me that such events that are unfolding before us never happened in her time. From that, I sort of concluded that it also must not have happened before her time as well. Witches keep good records of everything, this is an event they would want deep in records.”

Kol speaks up first. “What other ancestral recordings are you missing? You only need Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah.”

  
  


“I can record positive ancestral reactions, primarily. But I can also record negative ancestral reactions.”

  
  


Freya went wide-eyed. “Bonnie, don’t tell me you’re thinking of going back to the ancestral realm to record Inadu and Dahlia. Do you have any idea what the both of them are capable of? Do you have any idea the damage they’ve caused?”

Josie looks at Bonnie. “You can’t go back to the ancestral realm, Aunt Bonnie. What if you can’t survive this? What if you don’t come back this time?”

  
  


“Josie, how long was she gone the first time?”

  
  


She turns back and faces Freya. “She was gone for 5 hours. H- I mean, I read on this and she can’t do it again. She can face a permanent death, right?”

Freya looks at Bonnie. “You were gone for 5 hours? Do you know how lucky you are to even be alive right now?”

  
  


“Do the two of you realize I’m standing right here? And yes, I know that. But these ancestral ties need to be recorded.”

  
  


Rebekah stood up. “My niece’s data replica is fully constructed. What more could you want in regards to ancestral ties? Inadu and Dahlia will only take advantage of the journal you have to sneak in it and be alive as data to then find a way to come out of the machine. All they will do is wait for Hope to come back and find a way to make her succumb to them. Ending Inadu and Dahlia in the first place was hard enough, they’re extremely powerful witches. What makes you think we,” she makes a circle with her index finger around the family “can confront them a second time? And the rest of you,” she points at Hope’s school friends and at Bonnie, “a first time? When we barely even survived the first time.”

  
  


“I’ll do what’s necessary to bring Hope back and if that means possible death, then I’ll be okay as long as my own nieces have their friend back.”

  
  


Rebekah looks at her carefully. “Don’t do this, Bonnie. Take it from us. Dahlia and Inadu are not to be underestimated.”

  
  


“I’m sorry, I have to.”

  
  


And Bonnie is about to leave, when the doors open.

* * *

Hope Mikaelson was once again bored out of her mind, walking around the castle and around Josie’s subconscious. At this point, she has everything memorized. Every corner, every nook and cranny. Completely memorized. It’s like she has a map in her brain.

Once thinking she was alone, she realized on this day that she wasn’t. The wolves showed up again, but to her, it was seeing them for the first time.

She was in the castle, at the part where she woke up the very first time that she was here. The wolves come in and sit next to her, startling her.

  
  


“Oh my god, where did you two come from? I thought I was alone in here.”

  
  


The wolf that was black and gold, the one that was **_the way to the dawn_ **, looked at her. “You mean you don’t remember creating us?”

That voice.. “D-Dad?”

  
  


“No, I’m not your dad. But I am a spirit guide that you thought of in the image of your father.”

  
  


“And I’m your other spirit guide, one that you thought of in the image of your mother.”

  
  


Hope Mikaelson looks at the two wolves, the two wolves that sound like her parents. “Created in the image of my parents? But how is this possible?”

The wolf that was silver with black tints throughout, the wolf that was the being of **_almost pure light_ **, sits in front of her and looks up at her. “You created us with your heart and mind the moment that you wished so strongly to be free of being a stone. As to why we sound like your parents, we don’t know, but we can assume that it’s because the people you wanted next to you, near you so badly, were your parents. So, that’s why we sound like them.”

Hope stares at them back and forth for a while, still registering everything. “So, you two are my spirit guides. Aren’t those usually guides to take you to heaven or whatever kind of afterlife you believe in?”

The wolves look at each other and chuckle. “Well, yes, and you're right. Hermes does this continuously and so do the Valkyries, but in this case, because you’re a rare anomaly in the sense that you’re neither dead but you’re not exactly alive because you’re trapped in your lover’s subconscious—”

  
  


“Josie isn’t my lover.” Hope scoffs, but internally, she can’t stop repeating the word “lover” over and over again in her mind. She **_wishes_ **.

  
  


Spirit Guide Klaus laughs. “She may not be, but your feelings for her are extremely strong.”

Hope blushes. Yes, they may be right, but she doesn’t want to admit it.

Just then, Josie’s subconscious begins to shake, as if an earthquake is happening.

The wolves look at each other and then back to Hope. “Hurry, you have to come with us,” the wolf of **_almost pure light_ **, Spirit Guide Hayley, tells her.

  
  


“Wait, where are we going?”

  
  


“We have to seek refuge at the **_bridge_ ** and the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake.”

  
  


“What place is that?” Hope was completely confused at this point.

  
  


“It’s where you’ve been meeting that girl you’re in love with every night.”

  
  


Hope tries to move, but she’s frozen as the whole castle begins to tumble down.

* * *

The doors open wide. Bonnie is frozen in her tracks because no one is behind the door and she can’t sense a single energy.

But a figure slowly comes in.

It was a Dökkálfar, or in English, a Dark Elf.

The Dökkálfar stands at the front of the doors and looks at everyone. “I’m looking for the k—”

  
  


“Oh great, another Malivore monster. Okay everyone, huddle up, we have to plan out how to get rid of this _thing_ .” Lizzie looks at “ _the thing_ ” with disgust.

  
  


The gang huddles up and starts talking, while Bonnie is still frozen in place and the Mikaelsons are just sitting there, observing how normal it is for them to talk so normal about monsters. Freya and Rebekah look at each other. “Yeah, we have to get our niece out of here,” they told each other in unison.

  
  


“Wait, please, hear me out. I know what Malivore is, but I’m not here because of Malivore. I was unleashed into the world, just like many of the creatures that come from Malivore, but I serve the gods Odin and Freyja, just like most Valkyries, except I’m not a Valkyrie, I’m a Dökkálfar, a Dark Elf. I’m here because I have a message for the kー”

  
  


“Save the speech for someone who cares, you tall ass rooster.” The Dökkálfar looks at Lizzie, quite offended. “It’s time for you to get roasted now.”

  
  


At that, Kaleb grabbed a bottle of salt that was given to him and with vampire speed, spread salt around the Dökkálfar, while Lizzie and Josie siphoned from MG and Landon. They held hands and said the following spell: _Apné sà mene_.

The room was sealed completely, no one could leave and no one could come in. Bonnie decided to join the other adults and sat next to Freya, who was dumbfounded by the gang like the rest of the Mikaelsons.

  
  


“Fine, if none of you want to hear me out, then I guess my only choice here is to fight as well.” The Dökkálfar took out a blade and a magic staff. “ _Aguamenti_!”

  
  


Within a matter of seconds, the gang was drenched in water. But this was going to go bad real quick if Bonnie, Freya, and Davina didn’t intersect. None of them had a blade. Bonnie and Freya look at each other, while Davina looked at both of them and listened in to what they had to say.

Bonnie spoke first. “They won’t make it, this Dark Elf clearly has possession of magic, which is fine, but they also have a blade. None of those kids do. We need to do something about it.”

  
  


“I think I know just what to do. I know you know the spell I’m thinking of, so just follow my lead.”

  
  


The three of them got up and rushed towards the gang. “Okay everyone, here’s what we’re going to do. MG, Rafael, and Kaleb: you three have no choice but to stay behind for this one. Landon, we don’t know what your powers are, so you’ll have to stay behind with the vampires and the werewolves. Josie and Lizzie, do you need to siphon again, or are you two good?”

  
  


“No, we’re good,” Josie spoke for both of them.

  
  


Bonnie spoke then. “Okay, so here’s what the four of us are going to do. We’re going to hold on to Freya here and when she starts the spell, we’ll repeat after her.”

  
  


“Don’t worry, Aunt Bonnie, we’ve done this before with Hope.” Lizzie rolls her eyes at Josie.

  
  


Freya begins the spell: _Lecutio maxima_

The bolt of lighting, so powerful because of it emanating from 5 witches, hit the Dökkálfar and they screamed in pain, immediately falling to the ground.

The boys, excluding Landon, because he knows he won’t do anything useful, ran up to the Dökkálfar and tied them up, put them to sit in a chair.

Kaleb interjected. “Alright, now tell us why you’re really here.”

The Dökkálfar looked at all of them. “Are you all tone deaf? I told you all that I didn’t come from Malivore. I know what Malivore is, but I was unleashed by the Norse gods Odin and Freyja. The friend you’re all looking for? The moment she went in her mind,” she points at Josie, “is the reason why creatures that you humans think are only in myths were unleashed. Oh yes, if you think the only ones unleashed are from what humans call ‘Norse mythology’, guess again. The Greeks are in on this as well. Now, I have a message for the key. That is why I’m here today.”

Bonnie stands in front of them. “Can you at least tell us your name before you carry on? We don’t even know who the key is, how is it possible that you do?”

The Dökkálfar chuckles. “The gods know everything, Bonnie Bennett. My name is Osafre. You were right about the key. The key indeed is someone that has an intense emotional bond with Hope outside of her family. And **_she_ ** is in **_this room_ ** with us **_right now_ **.”

Everyone gasps and Osafre looks at Josie. “You. You need to stop going into your subconscious every single night. The Greek and Norse gods have been watching you, seeing you meet Hope every single night at the **_bridge_ ** and the **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake. Make no mistake, the first error you all made,” she points in general to everyone, “was letting Hope enter her subconscious. Because now she’s stuck, with no way out. If you continue to go into your subconscious every single night, you will get stuck with her as well, make no mistake about it. And once you’re stuck, there’s no way out.”

Lizzie and MG look at Osafre wide-eyed and then turn to face Josie. “Why didn’t you tell us you were meeting Hope inside your subconscious, Josie?”

Before Josie could even attempt to respond, two voices spoke at once in unison.

  
  


“Oh my god, you’re the key.”

  
  


“Hope fell in love with YOU?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading this chapter everyone! new chapter should come after i update my prodigal son au and update a new work... :)
> 
> follow me on twitter: @k3ytoev3rything


	2. the dive into the desire for all that is lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You yourself will vanish from her heart, from this world. And without your powers, you can't return to the world you came from."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! here's chapter two. thank you for being patient with me, i have a new pet and a lot of homework that take up my time! i always try my best to update frequently, but like i said, your patience is really appreciated. thank you to everyone that comments and likes my work, please continue to comment!

**Chapter 2: The Dive into the Desire for all That is Lost**

  
  


“Oh my God, you’re the key.”

  
  


“Hope fell in love with YOU?!”

  
  


Bonnie and Landon spoke in unison, causing everyone to get confused and not understand what either said. Well, everyone that didn’t have good hearing like a vampire or a werewolf.

  
  


“Landon, chill, okay? It’s not Josie’s fault.” Rafael was walking closer to him, slowly but surely.

  
  


“What’s not… my fault?” She looks at both boys carefully.

  
  


“No, you know what? It really is. I trusted you, Josie. I trusted you and Hope. What were you both doing behind my back?”

  
  


Josie looks at him confused. “Nothing?” What exactly is she being accused of anyway?

  
  


“What do you mean nothing? You two fell in love with each other for a reason!”

  
  


Freya and Rebekah were getting a little tired so they went to stand next to Josie. “Now, why do you care so much about who my niece falls in love with, you gremlin looking child?” Rebekah looks at him questioningly.

  
  


“I’m her boyfriend.”

  
  


“I’m sorry, did you say boyfriend?” Freya looks at Rebekah and they both laugh. This wasn’t a situation that was so funny in the first place but the fact that this clown is saying he’s their niece’s boyfriend is just too funny for them.

  
  


“He actually is her boyfriend…” Josie looks up at them, still slightly confused.

  
  


Freya looks at her. “Wait, he was being serious?”

  
  


“Yeah…”

  
  


“Well, if she’s in love with you,” Rebekah points towards her “then why is she with the gremlin?” she points towards Landon.

  
  


“You three know that I’m standing right here, right?” Landon was getting more and more pissed by the second. He’s baffled at the disrespect he’s getting from his girlfriend’s family, but it seems like he doesn’t understand that it’s what he deserves.

  
  


“Yes, does it look like the two of us care?” Freya and Rebekah were firm with their statement. Josie stands firmly in place, hoping things don’t get worse.

  
  


Speaking of things getting worse.

At that moment, Jed comes in. He walks in calmly, not expecting so many people in the room at once but he just rolls with it and approaches Kaleb.

  
  


“Hey, you. What’s all this?”

  
  


Kaleb tells him what’s going on, even what’s happening with Josie and Landon.

Landon takes a step closer. “Listen, Josie, I don’t know and I don’t get how my girlfriend could fall in love with my ex-girlfriend and vice versa, but I can definitely tell you it’s a little annoying and it’s pissing me off.” He’s getting dangerously close now and Josie, without having her powers, sorta feels a little uncomfortable at the situation.

Thankfully, nothing escalates any further. Jed and MG stand in front of Josie. “Where the hell do you think you’re going, bird boy?” Jed smirks.

  
  


“I know you’re not going anywhere near my best friend.” MG crosses his arms.

  
  


But Landon, being dumb, inched closer. And that’s when Jed and MG send him off, badly bruised everywhere.

It turns out that because of his horrible injuries, Landon has to be in the hospital for the rest of the month.

* * *

Hope Mikaelson had tried to move as the castle was falling apart. An earthquake was happening in Josie’s subconscious and the spirit guides said they needed to go to the **_path_ ** and **_cross_ **between sleep and death, sleep and awake. The same place she sees Josie every night.

**_Josie. Josie. Josie. Josie._ **

  
  


“Come on, Hope. We have to go! This place is going to fall apart at any minute.” Spirit Guide Hayley pushed her softly from behind, urging her to move.

  
  


Hope begins to run after her spirit guides, not knowing where she was going. She thought she had a map in her head of this whole place, but it seems like she was wrong.

Why was there an earthquake happening in the first place? Maybe when Josie comes back tonight, she’ll ask her about her day. It probably has to do with that.

They finally reach the **_path_ ** and **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake and everything is different. The light is bigger and there’s no darkness around it.

But beyond it, there’s **_something_ **.

Not a person this time, a **_place_ **.

* * *

_Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana - October 1888_

Terra Maxfield was testing his first subject for emotional connections and data replicas combined. Klaus Mikaelson.

In truth, this was extremely exciting for him because he’s heard so much about the famous Klaus Mikaelson. Everyone also says that he’s a vampire that’s not to be messed with, for he supposedly had no emotions. But he knew this had to be false.

As Klaus willingly had his emotions recorded, Terra had his journal, where he wrote out all his reports. This was a secret journal, a journal he has never shown anyone nor would he dare to show anyone.

  
  


_October 26, 1888_

_I’ve begun testing on my first subject for my data replica and tracing of connections research. Klaus Mikaelson. The vampire everyone says has no emotions and is sadistic by nature. But the Dyrr ut Pathos has finally unveiled the truth. Klaus Mikaelson, by nature, wants to love and be loved. He wants loyalty, he wants power. When I showed him what the machine said of him, he couldn’t speak. But when he finally did, he wanted the machine gone and destroyed. I laughed at his comment. “My machine is indestructible, Klaus. I’m sorry that this is not what you want to see, but it’s who you are. This is what your heart has reflected of you.” I thought that he would kill me then, that is what everyone has said of him: that he’s a killer. But he didn’t. Instead, all I saw was pain in his eyes before he told me, “Perhaps so. I’ll continue to fund your research if you omit that from my family and record them as well. I want to see the concept of data replicas and your idea of_ **_tracing connections_ ** _to be a progress of the future.” Oh my, what an excitement! I cannot believe that ever since my parents were removed from the Augustine Society, that my work would flourish so well here in New Orleans. Soon enough, this will become a reality. Soon enough, the supernatural world will see that they can have themselves turn to data replicas through their emotions, and through the emotional connections and ties they have to other people._

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day (13 hours before) - 1:00 PM_

After what happened the day before, Bonnie decided to go back to the ancestral plane in secret. But how was she going to achieve this? She knew that going to Lizzie and Josie’s bedroom wasn’t going to work because they would straight up refuse. Asking Freya would also be a problem, maybe even Davina, since she was also there when everything went down. But she couldn’t afford to wait any longer, Hope Mikaelson was missing, she needed to do this for her.

In the end, she found a girl by the name of Alyssa Chang, hanging out with Jed, Kaleb, and MG. She told her what she needed.

Alyssa looked around them. “Why me? Don’t you have nieces here that could help you out? And isn’t boring, old Hope Mikaelson’s family here? Don’t they have two strong witches in the family or whatever?” She kept filing her nails.

Bonnie got upset. “Who I ask and why I ask shouldn’t be any of your concern. I decided to ask you because I’ve heard of you, I’ve heard of your power. This has nothing to do with my nieces or Freya and Davina.” She got closer to her. “But next time you say something like that about Hope, knowing what she does for this school, what we’re trying to accomplish here to find her, I think I will definitely tell Alaric. Is that clear?”

Alyssa didn’t like being defied by anyone. But she let it slide, she fears Dr. Saltzman’s methods of punishment. “Okay. How do you want me to do this then? And where should we go so that no one sees us?”

  
  


“Anywhere but here. It’s too crowded.” Indeed, it was too crowded. The library had a lot of people today, which was unusual. So Alyssa and the boys lead her to a classroom with no one in. Before starting, Alyssa told the boys that they’ll have to stay and take care of Bonnie’s body before anyone comes into this classroom and sees what they’ve done.

  
  


They all agreed. Then, Alyssa stopped Bonnie’s heart and back into the ancestral plane it was.

* * *

Bonnie Bennett was declared dead by Jed, Kaleb, MG, and Alyssa at 1:30 PM.

Bonnie Bennet was in her own ancestral plane now, the ancestral plane for witches. She may not know her surroundings, but she knows who to look for.

The first witch she finds ran away and freaked out upon mentioning Dahlia and Inadu. Maybe Freya and Rebekah were right when they said these two characters were scary and not to be underestimated. But she didn’t care. A girl was missing.

She kept walking for a few minutes, until she approached a woman with fair skin and dark hair. She approached the woman cautiously, scared that she would run away at the mention of Dahlia and Inadu.

  
  


“Excuse me? I’m looking for two witches by the names of Dahlia and Inadu.”

  
  


The woman turns around and gives Bonnie a sly smirk. “Now, who could be looking for us? Who are you, witch? Speak your name.”

  
  


“I-I’m Bonnie Bennett. I’m looking for you because—”

  
  


Bonnie thinks about what Freya and Rebekah said and the stories they’ve told her about these women. They were a dangerous threat to Hope in her younger years. If she mentions that she’s here because of Hope, there’s a way they could potentially harm her.

She was not about to let that happen.

  
  


“I’m here because I heard of you when I was alive through Esther一”

  
  


“Ah, my sister. Right. What did she tell you about me?”

  
  


Bonnie took a minute to think, but not too long so that Dahlia doesn’t get suspicious.

  
  


“She told me that you were a great witch. And she told me of a time that you did something to her granddaughter, but never really specified what. Could you tell me then? I’m interested to know all about it.”

  
  


So, Dahlia told Bonnie everything, without suspecting a thing. Or so she thinks. She was able to find Inadu after and told her, more or less, the same thing, with more confidence in her voice this time. Inadu also told her everything, to which she also believes didn’t suspect a thing.

However, what Bonnie Bennett never expected was that both women waited till she was out of earshot in order to perform a spell together that let them be inside of the journal.

Bonnie Bennett was pronounced dead by Jed, Kaleb, MG, and Alyssa at 2:30 PM.

Bonnie Bennett never left the ancestral realm, and neither did Inadu and Dahlia.

Her efforts to save Hope Mikaelson ceased to exist.

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day (1 hour before) - 1:00 AM_

Josie feels genuinely awful about what happened to Landon, despite the fact that the boy was threatening her because of her supposedly interfering with his “epic love.”

In reality, Josie didn’t interfere with anything. Josie and Hope happened on its own. Some people say that’s the best kind of love, because it stems from the _**purest of emotional connections**_.

For Josie, her crush on Hope happened when they were younger, well before her and Lizzie’s 15th birthday. She remembers everything: the note, the fire, the rumors. Yes, Hope may have found out years later that everything was her fault, but it seems like there are no more hard feelings about that, because Hope **_saved_ ** her.

Now, her feelings for Hope are deeper than the surface, more than a normal crush, but maybe less than falling in love. She knows what love feels like, but this is something she’s never felt before.

She stays thinking about this for some time. She even thinks about what Hope told her:

  
  


_You won’t hurt anyone else. The darkness in you? It may be part of you, just like it’s part of all of us as well, because nobody is a being of_ **_pure light_ ** _, but it wasn’t really you. You can control yourself and putting away your powers is just running away from the problem and running away from your problems? That’s only going to hurt you in the end. That’s just the story that you’re telling yourself, this is your chance to once again_ **_change the story_ ** _._

  
  


Josie gets up from bed, grabs the coin, and waits for Lizzie to come into their room.

Finally, Lizzie arrives.

  
  


“I’m back from being with MG.” She looks at her sister, who looks deeply lost in thought. She goes and sits next to her. “What are you thinking about?”

  
  


Josie avoids any and all ways to tell her the truth: that she was thinking about Hope. So, she decides to tell her the next best answer, which also wasn’t so far from the truth. “I was thinking about Landon and I kinda feel bad about what happened with him. I didn’t mean to hurt him. And also, I was hoping that you would get my siphon powers from this coin and put them back in me? Someone told me that I wouldn’t hurt anyone else and that it was all going to be okay… Because no one is a being of pure light.”

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Listen, about the Ewok nerd, he got what he deserved. He had it coming for going after you like that.” The blonde thinks that by saying this, she’s not helping her sister feel better, so she adds something extra for encouragement. “Look,” she grabs Josie’s hand “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Hope Mikaelson nor do I know about how you two grew feelings for each other, but I know one thing: If you were meant to be the key, you were always meant to be the key. It’s just how **_destiny_ **works. And of course, I can get your siphon powers from the coin for you. I’m guessing the ‘someone’ you’re referring to is Mikaelson?”

Josie looks at her wide-eyed. The brunette never thought of things this way, but maybe her sister is right. This was just simply meant to be. But that only made her think one thing: Does this mean Hope and her would… Get together after this? She thinks this could be a possibility but, Landon is still in the picture and Hope doesn’t know two things, those two things being that Landon is in the school’s hospital and the other that Josie knows how she feels about her. Maybe the brunette will have the courage to tell her tonight. Regardless, Lizzie gives Josie back her powers by saying the spell, the spell her Uncle Kai forced their bio mom, Jo, to say.

Speaking of tonight.

  
  


“Lizzie, it’s getting late, I’m just gonna go to sleep.”

  
  


“Why? So you can go see Mikaelson in your subconscious again? You heard that Dark Elf, they said if you go inside your subconscious again, you’ll get stuck there, and then there’ll be no way for you to get out, no way for you to save her.”

  
  
  


“What if they lied? I mean, they mentioned the Norse and Greek gods and even said they serve two of them, this sounds like something straight out of Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase, Lizzie. It’s all fiction, they have to have lied.”

  
  


But before Lizzie could say anything, Josie dismissed her concerns and fell asleep.

It was 2:00 AM. And the twins saw each other for the last time. For quite some time.

* * *

_Whitmore College - McKinley, Virginia // McDaniel College - Westminster, Maryland - April 1870_

Terra was at the highlight of his career. He was going to start big and strong, with something no one has ever heard of before: a machine that would be able to read the emotions of the supernatural community.

Ever since he found out about how his parents have been fascinated with the extreme physical health of vampires in order to improve the lives of humans and advance the medical field, he decided that he too would also do experiments with vampires, but in regards to emotions. He wanted to primarily focus on vampires and werewolves but, naturally, would not discredit a possible interaction with witches.

His parents always told him that vampires have great physical health and because they can heal so quickly, their blood could be used in order to cure humans of many kinds of illnesses that don’t have a cure. But he quickly fell into disillusionment with his parents when he found out accidentally the atrocities they did to vampires.

Terra felt bad for the vampires that were under his parent’s “care.” He even spoke with them behind their backs. This is how he found out that vampires have heightened emotions and that there are different kinds of vampires, the most dangerous being a strand of vampires called “rippers.”

Because of him talking to his parent’s test subjects, he was able to decide that what he wanted was to analyze these emotions. He asked two vampires, Lexi Branson, and her friend, Stefan Salvatore, to be his first participants once his machine was done, and made sure to let them know that they wouldn’t be harmed like they would be if his parents would be the ones doing it. They both agreed, reluctantly at first, which is what he expected, but glad that he got a yes. They also both agreed to escape to Maryland with him, they knew that this kind of research would be important for the future, unlike the research that his parents were doing, which was no research at all, they were just torturing them for fun at this point.

Terra knew that Stefan was a ripper, but he wasn’t scared of the dark-haired man. In fact, he was excited that he could finally test out his machine and show the validity of his research.

While in Maryland, it took him months to finish his machine, but when he was ready, he presented it to Stefan and Lexi, both of them seemed eager to see what Terra was talking about.

  
  


_April 16, 1870_

_After months of telling Lexi and Stefan all my research, the day has finally come. The day where we get to test the Dyrr ut Pathos. Lexi and Stefan waited until I booted it up. I think they were more excited than I was, which I do not blame them for. I explained to them that in order to record their emotions into the Dyrr ut Pathos, they will have to open up their hearts, no barriers. Stefan was the first one, I believe he was most excited because he wanted to show himself that he was a good person, despite him being a ripper. He once told me that a witch that aided him in his transition explained that rippers are a cause of really good people like himself being unfit to become vampires and because vampirism is known to enhance personality and emotion, people who are benevolent, become more benevolent as vampires. And since the nature of vampirism is to kill, vampires like Stefan himself struggle to fight their urges to murder, and too often do they “turn off their humanity” and become like serial killers. I wonder often, ever since he mentioned this, what “turning off your humanity” is and do werewolves also have this ability. But something also tells me that this is something I don’t want to find out. As I suspected, however, Lexi and Stefan have strong emotions, therefore, they have strong emotional connections. The reports for Lexi and Stefan show the morality that both have, the strong connection they have with each other. This proves a lot, but most importantly, that I must preserve my research in order to get this moving in supernatural circles. I need to continue this research and further enhance the Dyrr ut Pathos. Connections. There’s something there, as well, and I will find it. If my life, if my time on this earth should mean anything, it should be that I was the one to prove that vampires, werewolves, and even witches are like humans, just with enhancements._

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day (11 hours and 25 minutes-10 hours before)_

It was 2:35 PM and Jed, Kaleb, MG, and Alyssa are frantically trying to bring Bonnie Bennett back from the dead. MG opted to run to Dr. Saltzman, but couldn’t find him. His last option was to find the twins, but this was something he was scared to do. How do you tell someone their aunt is dead and that everyone near her is trying to bring her back to life, but it’s not working?

Nevertheless, MG went to find the twins, who ran to where MG led them to go. The twins are trying everything, even resurrection spells. Nothing was working and the clock above was a reminder that time was their mortal enemy.

Meanwhile, Bonnie was fighting. She was desperately trying her hardest to come back. She heard everything; Lizzie’s and Josie’s spells, their tears, everyone’s screams. In the end, she knew that if it was Nature’s will, then she would indeed come back, because it wasn’t her time yet. But deep down, all she could think of was the fact that all she wanted was to be with her nieces and save Hope Mikaelson, because she knows deep down that helping Josie bringing her back would make her happy. If Josie is happy, then so is Bonnie.

As the Dark Elf told them, the Greek and Norse gods were watching everything. Knowing how and when this would all end, they knew that part of this was their decision to bring back Bonnie Bennett themselves. They did so, and Bonnie Bennett was pronounced alive by her nieces and the group at 4:00 PM.

Hope Mikaelson and her spirit guides indeed arrived at a **_place_ ** , not a **_someone_ **. The area around them was pure ocean and sky. A blue sky with the most beautiful white clouds, and the ocean having the sky reflected on it. Hope looked around and was in awe.

  
  
  


“There’s nothing else beyond this. This is why the **_path_ ** and **_cross_ ** between sleep and death, sleep and awake exists ─ because this is truly where sleep and death crossover. It is only natural that the world of ocean and sky exists here, because you and Josie have something in common, which is the fact that both of you are sort of exceptions in nature. Your father was turned into a vampire through magic, but the reason you exist is because of him being a werewolf. That is who he was meant to be always, it was his true nature. Your friend Josie did indeed come from a witch and a human, but because her mother was brutally killed, her coven implanted her within her other mother’s womb, Caroline’s womb — but it was the womb of a vampire, she shouldn’t have existed in the first place and neither should have you, but nature persisted and here you both are. Therefore, the world of ocean and sky is in Josie’s mind because her mind is like a separate world from her heart, but also because she should have died before she was born. And your presence is so strong and you have been away from your body for so long, that it is as if you’re dead at this very moment. But you also should have died a long time ago, I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you why. You and Josie’s connections to death only made this place stay grounded here. But, just as nature is persistent, so are both your minds and your hearts. The world of ocean and sky was meant for people who perished in a battle, but had a powerful and fierce will to keep living. It was meant for them to find their way back to the world they came from. You may see people along this journey, keep that in mind.”

  
  


Hope heard everything that Spirit Guide Klaus told her. Come to think of it, she’s thinking this is rather weird, to hear this very dense explanation from the spirit guide that sounds like her father, while he says the words “your father.” Hope feels like she's with her father at this very moment, as if he never left, never parted from her in the first place two years ago. This feeling, is this feeling what’s keeping her here in the first place? The feeling that is keeping her together, alive? Josie told her that Bonnie went to see her parents, so they know that she’s gone. Does this mean their love for her is so intense that they are keeping her **_memory_ ** , **_heart_ ** , and **_mind_ ** alive?

  
  


“As great as this explanation is, which is an explanation I’m grateful for, I don’t really understand a whole lot of it. Are you sure that there’s nothing beyond this, though?”

  
  


What Hope sees in front of her, seemingly so far away, was a sphere and a mirror. The sphere was pink and had a pink aura around it as well, with spikes around it, sorta how children color the sun. The mirror, however, was a splendor to behold. All around it was keys and hearts adorning it and the color of these was in white.

  
  


“We don’t actually know what that is, if we’re being honest with you. This is the first time we have ever seen this portal and this mirror. The mirror itself could also be a portal.”

  
  


Spirit Guide Hayley looks at Hope with honesty reflecting in her eyes. So that’s what the pink sphere is 一 a portal. If the mirror is indeed a portal, then where would the portal lead?

  
  


“Mo- I mean, spirit guide that sounds like my mom, how do you know that the sphere is a portal?”

  
  


“Well, we may be your spirit guides and we indeed did come from you, from the power of your **_mind_ ** and your **_heart_ ** , but we are psychopomps. We’re anthropomorphic entities that, like we discussed earlier, help guide people to the afterlife. We serve Hermes, Styx, Hades, Hel, Osiris, and Anubis, who have all been watching closely. But, we also are making sure that you stay safe, for if something happens to you, whatever it is that happens, can affect us deeply. You have a **_connection_ ** to us.”

  
  


Hope is trying to register this. A connection to her spirit guides? Okay, believable. Hermes? Anubis? That’s impossible. All of these gods don’t exist, they’re just myths created to explain phenomenons─

  
  


“No, the gods were not created by mankind to explain phenomena on earth.” Okay, so her spirit guides also know her thoughts? Duly noted. “The gods came before mankind. Therefore, the gods of life were the ones to have created all of us. That is, unless you believe in,” Spirit Guide Hayley turns to Spirit Guide Klaus “what’s that religion called again, the one where the guy dies on some wooden thing?”

  
  


“...That’s Christianity.”

  
  


“Christian! Yes, unless you believe in Christianity, then you’re going to believe that.. That guy created you.”

  
  


Hope rolls her eyes. “Okay, say everything you’re telling me is the truth, that all these gods exist. Why are they looking over me? Why am I a point of interest for the gods?”

The spirit guides look at each other then back at Hope. “You mean, you don’t know?” they look at each other again. “Ever since you saved Josie, you unleashed everything in Josie’s subconscious and more out in the world. All the fairy tale monsters, all the monsters that we see in our world,” they shudder thinking of it “are going after Josie. They’re not monsters from Malivore, but they are indeed monsters you humans have talked about for generations and centuries. You even unleashed the fairy tales themselves, unlocked their worlds.”

Hope looks at her spirit guides, concerned. “Why are they going after Josie? I need to get out of here.”

  
  


“You’re derailing from the point, Hope.” Spirit Guide Hayley stands in front of her. “The reason why we know it’s a portal is because we’ve seen this in other worlds. As for why they’re after Josie, I thought that answer was obvious. It’s because you unleashed them, so they’re after you. So it seems that not only you have to deal with monsters from Malivore but you—”

  
  


Hope interrupted her. “Yeah, I know. I also have to deal with the monsters from Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology.”

  
  


“Well, not Egyptian monsters. Surprisingly, you didn’t wake those.”

  
  


Silence.

  
  


“Hope, did your Aunt Freya ever tell you anything about Norse gods and goddesses? I mean, she is a namesake of one, after all.”

  
  


Hope starts walking towards the mirror, after staying standing in one place for what seemed like forever. Her spirit guides walk next to her, waiting for her answer.

  
  


“Well, no, not really. She taught me everything that had to do with magic. She really was my best teacher.” She smiles.

  
  


“Consider this a lesson. As we told you, we serve Anubis, Osiris, Hel, Hades, Hermes, and Styx. Josie didn’t tell you this, but a Dark Elf went to see them not so long ago, perhaps it happened before or after she saw you last. This Dark Elf serves Freya and Odin. Now, before I get into the stories of my Norse masters and the Dark Elf’s masters, we should probably think about the mirror and the portal.”

  
  


Hope wonders about this. Well, what exactly about the mirror and the portal does she need to think about? Is Spirit Guide Hayley trying to allude to the fact that she has to choose one of them?

  
  


“It’s very important that once we reach the portal and the mirror, you pick the portal. You need to continue your journey, your way out of here, once Josie comes. You can’t leave without her. You yourself will vanish from her mind, from this world. And without your powers, you can’t return to the world you came from.”

  
  


She stops walking, they are getting close to the mirror and the portal now. Vanish? This was unexpected news.

  
  


“Where would the portal lead anyway? And isn’t it a little unrealistic that Josie has portals inside her own mind?”

  
  


Spirit Guide Klaus stepped in to explain this part. “Think about it, Hope. The mirror has keys and hearts around it, right?” She nods. “So, then, the mirror is a portal to another world, which is her own heart. And because she’s the key, that’s why there’s keys all around it, as well as hearts. Perhaps it is indeed unrealistic that Josie has portals in her own mind, but remember what Mira told you—”

  
  


“Who is Mira? And what is this key thing?”

  
  


“She’sー”

  
  


“Hope?”

  
  


Josie’s voice rang throughout the world of ocean and sky. Hope turns around and sees that from where they entered, she’s standing there, looking around. Immediately, Hope runs towards her, her spirit guides following quickly behind.

  
  


“Josie, come inside!”

  
  


“Inside… Where exactly?”

  
  


Hope finally reaches the entrance of the world of ocean and sky. “In through here, look towards your right.”

Josie does so and sees the bright light, glowing brighter and brighter by the second. “What happened out here? Everything is a mess.”

Hope waited for Josie to come in and get closer so that she could explain. They both hugged each other, for a long while.

  
  


“You had an earthquake in your subconscious. Do you know what could be the reason?”

  
  


Josie looked at her puzzlingly. “Actually, this time, I’m not sure? It could be a number of factors. A lot has happened since we last saw each other…”

Spirit Guide Klaus breaks their conversation. “As much as I know that you have a lot to tell her yourself, there’s some things that I was going to explain to Hope─”

Josie screams. “OH MY GOD, WHY IS THERE A WOLF HERE?” She looks over and screams again. “TWO WOLVES OH MY GOD, WHY IS IT THAT THEY CAN TALK?”

Hope holds her hands. “Josie, it’s okay. These are my spirit guides. According to them, I basically manifested them with the power of my mind and my heart as one?” Hope looks over to the both of them, to which they nod their heads. “It’s interesting, because they both sound like my parents.. And they were explaining to me about the mirror and the portal that are over there,” she points at both so that Josie can see where they are “and they were also explaining to me about something related to a key of sorts? And why the mirror has keys all around it, as well as giving me a lesson on the gods that they serve and these gods that a Dark Elf that visited the school serves? It’s a lot of information, but I’m trying to get the hang of it.”

Hope is so clueless over everything, but Josie starts to get nervous. If Hope finds out that she’s the key, this would change everything. It would mean that the auburnette would know that her feelings are reciprocated, and she’s not sure if she’s ready for that. 

The spirit guides laugh, no malice in their laugh whatsoever, they can feel Josie’s emotions.

  
  


“Well, Hope, I think you should let Josie explain some of that, don’t you think?”

  
  


Spirit Guide Hayley’s voice keeps ringing in Josie’s mind, and all Josie can do is panic.

* * *

_Whitmore College - McKinley, Virginia - December 1870_

Terra came back from Maryland and arrived at Whitmore College at his and his parent’s campus home to his very angry mother and father, who were upset he took their last two subjects. Unbeknownst to Terra, Stefan and Lexi were vital to the research his parents were doing for the Augustine Society because of the fact that they weren’t like any other vampires they had ever seen.

  
  


“Terra, how could you? Those two were important to our research!” His mother seems to be the most visibly upset between the two.

  
  


“Yes, ‘research.’ I assume research means that you’re going to rip an eye out or maybe an organ? See how fast that regenerates?”

  
  


His parents look at him in shock.

  
  


“I also assume that you did not know that I knew that tidbit of information… Well, I found out accidentally, when I heard Stefan screaming one night. I went and spoke with him, made sure he knew I was against your research and that he had a friend.”

  
  


Silence.

  
  


“I am doing some research myself, mother. I am basing my research all on emotions. I know that thanks to Stefan and Lexi, my research will get bigger and will improve. I am forever indebted to them and the help that they have given me.”

  
  


He leaves the living room and heads upstairs to write in his journal, the secret journal that no one will ever see.

  
  


_December 28, 1870_

_I finally arrived back home after being away for seven months and some weeks. It has been quite an interesting time and my research has advanced a lot. However, some interesting things have happened in the last two weeks and it is the reason why I have not written in this journal in this time period. Two men appeared to me, saying their names were Anubis and Hermes, to which I laughed because I could not believe that they were being sincere with me. They seemed quite offended at first, which is understandable. They then walked around my machine, the Dyrr ut Pathos. They told me that my creation would exist for generations and would be worthy for a future event that they are going to orchestrate, or be part of, to this day, I am not quite sure what they meant, exactly. I laughed again. The way they speak sounds like they are going to be part of the future themselves, a future so far ahead that it sounds impossible. I, furthermore, politely explained to “Anubis” and “Hermes” that for me, it was quite difficult for me to believe them, to which they responded something along the lines of “humans, they always are so skeptical.” Of course I had to be skeptical, would they not do the same if positions were reversed? But what intrigued me the most was when they told me that I, too, could be part of this future, if only I began to be a pagan (of course, they did not say the word pagan, more like “obey and heed to the right religions”) and follow the ways of the old, the ways of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. I asked them if this meant they would grant me immortality, believing in my_ **_mind and heart_ ** _that they were playing a game with me. However, they told me that they weren’t because they knew I would die in the hands of someone from the future, someone who doesn’t know that they would attempt to ruin a plan of the gods, and that their endeavor would not work. They then continued, telling me that this would mean they would bring me back to life at some point in the distant future. I had to laugh once again, to which they then got extremely offended and showed me their true power, their true god-like forms. That is when I believed, that is when I understood everything. I have written all of this down to remind myself that I will one day come back, that I am a chosen one of the Ancient Egyptian and Greek gods. I will continue to write in my journal, like I always do, in the hopes that someone in the future will pick it up and learn from me. Or even continue writing in here, perhaps write about their experiences with my Dyrr ut Pathos._

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day (10 hours-6 hours before)_

Bonnie Bennett came back to life at 4:00 PM. Her nieces were the first ones to hug her, in tears. She also began to cry. She thought that she was gone, forever this time. 

But they didn’t have much time for a reunion. From the classroom they were in, they could hear the petrifying screams of the students. This only meant one thing: a Malivore monster or a new monster from… Wherever the new monsters came from.

  
  


“Yeah, and that’s my cue to leave.” Alyssa then walked away, filing her nails once again.

Luckily for Bonnie and the group, however, the Mikaelsons were on campus, waiting for Bonnie and their niece’s friends in Alaric’s office.

Freya was the first one to see Bonnie. “What are those screams?”

Josie, finally used to all of this madness with monsters, gently explains to Freya everything.

  
  


“Okay, so how do we get to this monster?”

  
  


Bonnie interjects. “Well, it seems like the screams are coming from outside, maybe we should see if the monster is there.”

MG comes from behind everyone and stands next to Josie. “Hopefully this monster can talk like the last one. Maybe we can get more information on this whole Greek and Norse mythology situation going on.”

His hopes, however, died when all of them ran out of Alaric’s office and went out the front doors of the school.

In front of them was a massive two-headed dog with its tail having a snakehead. It must have been at least 20 feet in height, with raven fur and razor-sharp teeth, mouth foaming with saliva. It also had red eyes.

Suffice to say that the whole group ran towards the field, where they noticed no one was there due to this giant dog showing up.

Jed was the first one to stop running, and also one of the first to make it. “What are we going to do? That this is MASSIVE and I can’t do anything about this, it’ll never listen to me. It’ll never see Raf as an alpha either, we’re screwed.”

Josie thought about this. She’s pretty sure, from all of her mythology readings, that she knows what monster this is.

  
  


“I think I know how we can bring this monster down.” Everyone huddles around Josie, eager to hear what she has to say. “If my mythology reading serves me right, I’m positive this is Orthrus. He was a guard dog, along with his master, Eurytion. They both took care of the red cattle Geryon, the three-faced giant, had. He’s also related to a bunch of other famous monsters, like Cerberus, the Sphinx, and the Nemean Lion. He was killed by Heracles, which you all know him by Hercules, but that’s his Roman name—”

  
  


Lizzie groaned. “Josie, just get to the point already. Tell us how this giant ass werewolf-looking bitch gets killed.”

Upon saying, “werewolf-looking,” Jed and Raf look at the blonde, a little offended, while MG and Kaleb snort.

Josie rolled her eyes. “I was going to get to that, if only you wouldn’t have interrupted me. Okay, so, Heracles killed him with a club, but many artistic depictions of the fight also show arrows. So… That’s kinda a problem for all of us because one, we don’t have a club and two, the only people that knew how to shoot arrows, even with my dad’s arrow shooter, was my dad and Hope…”

From within the crowd, Kol comes out with a sly smile on his face. “Not quite, if you show it to me, I’m sure that I can figure something out with it. But we do need to distract the dog. Orthrus, that thing.”

While Kol and Josie went back to Alaric’s office, MG and Lizzie played as bait for Orthrus, screaming “JOSIE HURRY UP HE'S GONNA EAT US,” to which Josie did try her best to get the arrow shooter, but she forgot how to turn the mechanism to her dad’s hidden armory.

20 minutes later, MG is still running, but they’re now joined by everyone else, and the witches are using spells, some of the spells backfiring right in front of their eyes. The spells that worked the best were elemental spells, so they kept trying to use fire, air, and electric spells.

  
  


“ _Ventus!_ ”

  
  


“ _Lecutio Maxima!_ ”

  
  


“ _Ignarious!_ ”

  
  


In the middle of the fire spell, Josie and Kol finally showed up to a Orthrus that had sparks coming off his fur, one spark coming directly at them. Josie quickly acted. “ _Scutum!_ ”

The spark flew back on to Orthrus and the shield she created protected her and Kol. “Phew! Thanks for that shield! Although, I don’t think that in all my years of learning magic, I have ever—”

  
  


“As much as I would love to hear this explanation, now is definitely not the time. Use the arrow shooter, aim for his heart.”

  
  


“You’re the Greek mythology expert, you tell me where his heart is and you’ll see that it’ll make it. I was always more of a fan of Roman mythology, despite the fact that it’s a co-”

  
  


“According to legend,” she then pointed upward, a bit frustrated “it should be in the center, between his right leg and his left.”

  
  


In order to shoot the arrow, they would have to move towards the middle of the fight, but that would mean that there’s a possibility they could get hurt. The wolves and the vampires have their super speed and the witches have their shielding spell, plust the elemental spells, but it’s not like Josie could perform a shielding spell again. It would interfere with the arrow heading towards Orthrus, plus, she’ll want to execute a telekinesis spell in order for the arrow to get where it needs to go. So, they did the next best thing.

Kol told her to stay where they were and he headed farther out. Orthrus was distracted by the spells Lizzie, Bonnie, Freya, and Davina were using against it and he took advantage of that. With precise vision, he was able to see the center and he shot. “ _Exsurgo._ ”

Thanks to Josie’s spell, the arrow was headed straight for Orthrus’ heart. But, unbeknownst to everyone, a trio of fairies was watching from far away, saying their own spell, making sure that evil will die and that good will endure.

Orthrus was hit with the arrow, a mix of fire and electricity igniting around the blow like a force field. He began to write in pain, howling, and yelping. He began to walk backward, the group running in reverse, away from Orthrus, and turning to face him from a distance, then collapsing to the ground and turning into a black speck.

Exhausted, they were all relieved that Orthrus was gone. But they did wonder how all of that just happened. The fairies, however, stayed watching them, while they all went back inside.

The trio of fairies had their identifiable garments. The leader of the three had orange garments, the more compassionate one had green garments, and the one more prone to committing murder, reasonable murder that is, was wearing light blue garments.

  
  


“Girls, I don’t like this. We need to come up with a plan at once. But we need to return to our world first. This world is frightfully dangerous. And we need to find a way to keep protecting the key.” The leader grabbed her wand, opened up a portal, and in they all went.

Josie watched the three fairies from inside her father’s office, all alone. She heads back to her room, now that it’s 8:00 PM

* * *

_The World of Ocean and Sky - Josie’s Mind - (Minutes before)_

Josie could not stop panicking. She tried to gather the strength to speak, she knows that Hope deserves nothing but the truth. But Hope noticed the way that she was shaking, and embraced her in a hug.

  
  


“Hey,” she began to draw circles on Josie’s back. “I don’t know what’s going on but whatever it is, you can tell me. Everything will be okay.”

  
  


Josie finds the circles soothing and it gives her some courage to speak. Hope lets go of her the moment Josie motions that she’s going to speak. “W-W-Well, a lot has happened since we last saw each other… Your uh─” she takes a moment to look at the spirit guides “spirit guides, or whatever, are right. There was a Dark Elf that came to the school. They were warning me.”

Hope looks at her questioningly. “What for?”

Josie tells her almost everything that happened after their last conversation, omitting the part about Landon for the moment, and―

  
  


“I’m the key. I’m the one that can bring you back, but I can’t keep seeing you or if not, I’ll get stuck here and we can’t find a way out of here.”

  
  


Hope looks at her wide-eyed. She began to think this out. If Josie is the key, then that means they can’t keep denying their feelings for one another. But Landon…

  
  


“Can you two give us some privacy? I need to tell her something important.”

  
  


The spirit guides look at one another and disappear.

  
  


“Listen Josie, if what you’re saying is true, then the reason why you’re the key is because 一 because I have strong feelings… For you. Right, you know this already… You were the one who saw the message.”

  
  


It’s out there, there’s no going back.

Hope has often dreamt of this moment. But in her mind, she pictures herself laughing and telling Josie, “Did you really think I could say no?”

  
  


“Hope, please, before you go on any further… You should know that something happened to Landon.”

  
  


Truth be told, Hope finds this a low blow to her heart. Not because Josie is offending her, but because the last thing she cares about right now is Landon. She lets Josie tell her anyway.

  
  


“Josie, IㅡI care about Landon. But, IㅡI told you that I missed you, not him. The way that I care for him is not the same way that I care for him.. Josie, I think I love you. Romantically, I mean.”

  
  


It’s out there, there’s no going back. Hope and Josie’s hearts are beating as one, skipping a beat as one.

Josie knows what love is like. And she knows now, this is love. But she’s thinking about this twice, and she can’t help it.

Hope can sense, can perceive Josie’s hesitation. She grabs her hands. “I get that this is a lot to take in. But ever since I was saved by my spirit guides, all they can talk about, most of the time anyway, is how they know my feelings for you are strong. And how powerful my **_heart and mind_ ** are. And they’re right. Don’t you see it yourself?” She explained to the siphoner the elucidation that Spirit Guide Klaus gave her, to which Josie was stuck. Stuck because she couldn’t believe how forward Hope was being with her.

Josie intakes a sharp breath and turns around, walking away. Hope goes after her and grabs her hand from behind. “Don’t go, Josie.”

They’re both standing, the natural light in the world of ocean and sky glowing all around. Josie avoids looking back at the auburnette girl behind her. Hope can sense this as well, so she keeps going. “I know that you and I have had our rough patches in life, but if you want to take this to an even higher level, all you have to do is say the words and my walls will crumble, nothing’s impossible, Jo.”

The words shock both girls, but it was the way Hope noticed that the words came naturally to her that scared her the most. Josie turns around then, slowly. “Hope, I─”

Hope motions for her to stop, raising her hand. “Don’t say another word. If you’re thinking twice about this, I don’t want to know. But know that I promise I won’t bring it up aga─”

Josie kisses her. **_Josie kisses her_ **. She kisses her once, kisses her twice, kisses her three times, and crosses the line. Not once did she think about this twice, but all she could think about was how far she and Hope have come.

* * *

_Salvatore Boarding School - Present Day - NOW_

Back in the twin’s bedroom, Lizzie is desperately trying to wake up Josie, nothing she’s doing is working at all.

She’s shaking her sister. “Josie, please, _please_ , wake up. God, if you went to see Mikaelson AGAIN after two warnings, I’m going to end you.”

  
  


Silence.

  
  


Nothing works. Lizzie runs out of their room in search of Bonnie. Bonnie was talking to Freya about what had happened in the ancestral plane, never mentioning once that Inadu and Dahlia are inside the Dyrr ut Pathos, very much alive.

  
  


“Aunt Bonnie, Josie won’t wake up.”

  
  


Bonnie looks at Freya and Freya looks back. They know what this means. They know what this means _for Hope_. Freya looks away, to make sure that no one can see her tears. Bonnie fills the silence of the room with her voice.

  
  


“We can’t do anything about this. We just have to hope that Osafre was wrong.. And that Josie will make it out of her own subconscious. Everything now is up to the key to save herself and Hope.”

  
  


_The World of Ocean and Sky - Josie’s Mind - 10 Minutes After_

In the middle of everything, Hope’s spirit guides come back, in mid-conversation of their own.

  
  


“And that’s why, Lugo, we─ oh dear.”

  
  


Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares at each other.

Hope looks at Josie, who then looks at her spirit guides. “Who-What-Nothing’s happening? Who’s Lugo?”

For the sake of both girls, they ignore the fact that they were kissing, so as to not embarrass either, and continue by answering Hope’s question. “I am, and she’s Mira. Just in case you were still wondering about that. We were given our names from Hermes.”

So, her spirit guides had names after all.

  
  


“Oh, okay, cool.”

  
  


In that instant, Josie began to fade slowly but then stayed, as if nothing happened.

  
  


“Well, this isn’t good…”

  
  


Hope looked at her. “What do you mean? What’s going on?” Worry visible all over her voice.

  
  


“Hope, I think I’m stuck in my subconscious...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really hope you like this chapter, because it's only going to get more complex from here on out :)
> 
> follow me on twitter: @k3ytoev3rything


	3. the viennese waltz of the damned working together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! thank you for being patient with me as i finish up school this semester. thank you for reading this cd/au and as always, your comments and your kudos are appreciated.
> 
> tw / graphic depictions of violence and blood

**Chapter 3: The Viennese Waltz of the Damned Working Together**

  
  


“Hope, I think I’m stuck in my subconscious…”

  
  


Hope stares at Josie wide-eyed. This wasn’t something that she suspected. But wait, didn’t she say—

  
  


“Josie, didn’t you say that if you got stuck here, then you couldn’t help me get out of your subconscious..?”

  
  


“Y-Y-Yeah…”

  
  


Lugo and Mira, upon seeing the distress of the two girls, decided to try their best to calm them down, but when they were about to speak, someone interrupted them.

  
  


“Josie, Hope. Fear not. I don’t know who gave you the information that you couldn’t get out of here if you got stuck in your subconscious, but they were wrong. We know a way out, but it’s a long journey. The road ahead will change you both. Many dark paths lie ahead and many questionable decisions will have to be made, and only you two will face it. However, these choices, these paths that you will take, will teach you a lesson at the end of the day. Furthermore, you two, along with your powers, will need weapons.”

  
  


What powers? Hope thinks about this. She doesn’t have her powers or her werewolf abilities because of Josie putting away her own. Nevertheless, the girls and the spirit guides turn to the sound of the voice. The three good fairies, in all their glory, were there. They moved forward towards Josie.

  
  


“I’m Flora, and these are Fauna and Merryweather. We’re your guardians. You’re the key, you need the utmost protection.”

  
  


Hope and Josie look at each other. The tribrid laughs. “You’re joking, right? First, these two,” she points at Lugo and Mira. “tell me they serve a bunch of gods and now you three appear? The last thing we all needed was bibidi-bopidi-boo to be part of this grand adventure.” She scoffs and turns around.

Fauna interjects. “Well, dear, that’s not us. Dreams aren’t our specialty, sleep is. That’s why we’re here, to protect Josie.”

  
  


“Josie doesn’t need protection, she can take care of herself just fine. And–” She wanted to say badly that Josie had  _ her _ , but the words didn’t come out. “Why are you really here?” She turns back to face them, arms crossed.

  
  


“Hope, it’s okay. I believe them. They were there when the last monster came. They got the arrow to go straight to Orthrus’ heart.”

  
  


This made Hope relax and feel less hostile towards the fairies, but deep down, she still didn’t trust them. The only ones she can trust right now are Josie, Lugo, and Mira. She may appear hostile towards them, but Lugo and Mira have proven to be trustworthy when they made sure she would be taken care of. Especially when they proved they would take care of Josie.

Lugo moved his way forward from behind Hope to stand next to Josie, who was in front of the fairies. “You said you knew a way out. Don’t tell me it’s  **_the way_ ** .”

The way? What is the way? Despite the hostility she showed to the fairies, Hope believed what they said, that the journey would be a long one. She turns back around and sees in the distance the mirror and the portal. If what Lugo said was true, then the mirror wouldn’t be a choice. It would be the portal, a portal that would take them all to another world. She turns again and looks at Flora.

  
  


“Say I were to believe what you say. Which of those,” she points towards the mirror and the portal. “would all of us have to go through?”

  
  


Flora nods and gives her a respectful nod in acknowledgment. Merryweather moves towards Hope and interjects. “The mirror is there to show you that  **_the final world_ ** is beyond the other side of it. But we all have to go through the portal first, and once we reach the world, it will take us to, we have to go through a series of hurdles to reach the portal of that world. From that portal, we will go to a new world, so on and so forth.”

Mira takes in everything. “It would only make sense that the first world would be one connected to either of us.” She moves her head, to make clear she’s referring to herself, Lugo, and the fairies. “But we won’t know which world it is until we get there, correct?”

The fairies nod their heads. Josie looks at everyone, being silent the entire time, but her mind wasn’t. All she could think about was Flora’s message.

  
  


“ _ The road ahead will change you both. Many dark paths lie ahead and many questionable decisions will have to be made, and only you two will face it _ .”

  
  


She already fought darkness once. Will she be strong enough this time? Will it completely consume her again? She shakes her thoughts away. “I think it’s better if we leave now. Who knows what time it is in the world the portal will take us to.”

Josie looks towards Hope, who senses her stare and looks at her fiercely. They softly smile at each other, and turn to head towards the portal. The fairies and the spirit guides follow closely behind them.

Once reaching the portal, they all survey it.

  
  


“Before we go, I said I have to give you weapons. Hope, for you, one of the most important swords in all time: the sword of Achilles.” Flora hands her the sword and Hope takes it, in awe of the way the gold was shining. “And another, the Labrys.”

  
  


Mira and Lugo gasp. “The symbol of Zeus.” Mira moves slightly closer to the double-headed axe.

Flora nods. “These weapons are of  **_pure light_ ** and will definitely help you on this perilous journey.” She turns to Josie. “For you, Josie, a dagger.” Upon handing her the dagger, Mira and Lugo gasp once again. “This dagger was carried by the Roman personality of Ares, but nevertheless, still him. It’s called–”

  
  
  


“Parazonium,” Lugo gasped. “I haven’t seen this weapon in such a long time.”

  
  


Flora nods once again. “Just like Hope, you’ll receive another weapon. For you, throwing knives. These are called ‘thunderbolt’ and whenever you throw them, they will hit the intended target of your choice, with thunder and fire, and afterwards, will come back to you.”

Josie looks at the weapons. At first, her hands were trembling. She was  _ so scared _ . All she could think about was that these weapons could trigger her dark side, because she can’t stop thinking about, still, Flora’s message. In the end, she calms down, slowly but surely, and admires the beauty of each weapon.

  
  


“Lastly, girls, you will also receive bows and arrows. These bows and arrows,” Flora swishes her wand and they appear. “Belonged to Odysseus and Ullr.”

  
  


“Ah.” Hope grabs the bow and arrows, smiling like she just won the lottery. Just when Josie was going to grab hers, the tribrid grabs them. “Sorry, I just really need to see yours as well, they’re so pretty.” Josie smiles and rolls her eyes.

  
  


Fauna interjects then. “Wait, you’re forgetting one more thing, Flora.”

  
  


“And that would be?”

  
  


“The girls need new clothing to accommodate for their weapons.” Immediately, Fauna swishes her wand and Hope and Josie’s clothing change instantly. Hope now has a white royal dress shirt that was red on the top, which was also red and gold on the shoulders, around her waist, and her wrists. She also had baby blue pants and a dark green cloak with black and gold royal boots. On her back was a quiver and a sheath for her bows, arrow, and swords. Josie had on a complete black pirate outfit with silver chains and buttons all around. She also had a quiver but felt that she also had a thigh holster for her throwing knives. Luckily, her pants had a way in order for her to be able to have easy access to the holster.

  
  


Both girls look at their outfits, taking in the fine silks and the beautiful colors.

The fairies look at the work that they’ve done and smile. Lugo and Mira look at the girls and feel proud. “Well, now that that’s done, we can go on now.”

Hope and Josie hum in acknowledgment. They all touched the portal and the same time and they flashed out of the world of sky and air.

* * *

_ Whitmore College - McKinley, Virginia - January 1882 _

Terra Maxfield and his family were in trouble. The Augustine Society has found out of Terra’s “erroneous experiments” and have kicked them all out of Whitmore College. Now, they had no home, no place in mind to escape to. But Terra thought quickly. His parents and him were used to the South, so they should stay somewhere in this same area. But what prestigious universities were in the South? The only one he could think of was Tulane University in New Orleans.

He quickly told his parents, who reluctantly agreed to the idea of moving all the way out there. See, Terra’s parents were people that were also scared of the South due to the swamps and such that were part of the terrain. Swamps lead to awful, disgusting creatures and they know that the Bayou of New Orleans was filled with such creatures. Would they ever come across it if they stayed close enough to the French Quarter though? Probably not, but his parents were his parents, after all.

Regardless, they set forth for New Orleans, which would be a trip that would take them at least a week. Between packing and finding adequate transportation, which probably meant horse carriage and train, it would take that long to reach their new home. The worst part of it all was that they had to leave rather quickly. Terra didn’t want to ask for help, but he asked Stefan and Lexie to aid him, despite everything his parents did to them. However, Stefan and Lexi helped and even found them the transportation and a place close enough to the university, right in the heart of the French Quarter. Vampires and their quick connections.

When he was finally settled in his new home, Terra was quick to grab his secret journal and write in it.

  
  


_ January 25, 1882 _

_ I was able to convince my parents to move to New Orleans once the Augustine Society found out about my research. I am not surprised that they called my research erroneous, but I know deep down that it is not. My research may not be for the supposed betterment of humanity, but it will be for the better of the supernatural community as a whole. I know that one day, my research will help others understand themselves, others. I hear that in New Orleans, the three factions exist together, but not in harmony. Maybe my research could help improve their relationship. Perhaps not unite the factions, but indeed to understand each other and their needs better. At this new university, I know that my research will flourish. However, I am going to attempt to meet with people of the supernatural factions and see how well my research will move them. I need to find assistants, I need to find patrons. Let us hope tomorrow goes well. Everything is going according to plan, as to how my gods Hermes and Anubis want. _

* * *

_ Salvatore Boarding School - Present Time - 5 Hours After _

Bonnie was comforting her niece and the Mikaelsons all at the same time. It was difficult, because she was grieving, too. She can’t believe that she will never see her niece ever again. Freya and Rebekah couldn’t stop crying, she understood them so well at this very moment. If there was ever a moment of connection between Bonnie and the Mikaelsons, it was now. But, she also had horrible news to break to them. She knew she had to tell them that Inadu and Dahlia are back.

But she doesn’t do that. She does the next best thing in her mind. She leaves the Mikaelsons and Lizzie to go to her room and see the  _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ . Once booting it up, she sees clearly on the screen, right next to Data Hope, Inadu and Dahlia, trying to manipulate the data, but with failure, they cannot. It’s as if Hope has an aversion to their darkness. What if the real Hope also had an aversion to their darkness, but also, the darkness in general?

  
  


“I’m making sure you two never get out of here.”

  
  


And she meant every single word.

Back where the Mikaelsons were, Freya and Rebekah were embracing Lizzie, while the rest were trying their best to comfort the three of them. Marcel was the only one that couldn’t do much, as he was helping Keelin take care of Nik, who in turn was taking care of Freya and Rebekah with the help of Kol and Davina, but the pain and the hurt were obvious in his eyes.

Rebekah was the first one to interject. “What are we going to do? Josie is gone, we’re never going to get Hope back. She was our family’s hope… We are nothing without her.”

It was these words that shocked Lizzie to her core. Hope and Lizzie always had a bit of a feud, but lately, she’s been able to befriend the auburn-haired girl and even enjoy her company. But she never expected her family to say these things. She once told her dad that everyone in here has lost something and someone, but she was finally beginning to think and understand that maybe Hope Mikaelson has lost a little more than everyone else here. That’s when Lizzie thought of an idea.

  
  


“What if we find a way to bring them back? What if there really was a way to bring them back and the Dark Elf lied to all of us?”

  
  


The Mikaelsons look at each other and study Lizzie’s words intently. Freya interjected then. “If there was something, we would have to find a way to connect to our roots,” she flicks her fingers between herself and her siblings. “Norse Mythology would probably have the answers to everything.” She sighs. “I should have taught Hope about that along with magic.”

Rebekah grabs her arm. “Don’t fret about that now, there’s no point. But you’re right that we should look into it and see if it would have any answers to give us.”

Bonnie comes back into the room. She looks slightly exhausted but no one is pushing anything, all they do is explain to her what they’ve talked about. In Bonnie’s mind, everything made sense and it gave her an opportunity to continue this work. They all came this far, it would be pointless giving up now.

With the help of the new librarian, they all found books on Norse Mythology and began to chip in on the work. Bonnie grabbed one book and sat with Lizzie, smiling because the evil in the  _ Dyrr ut Pathos  _ is long gone.

Or so she thinks.

* * *

_ A Bewitched Kingdom - 5 Hours Later _

Hope, Josie, the three good fairies, and the spirit guides all made it to the world that the portal took them to. Around them, the world was pure green, they were in a forest so green, it was impossible to think it was a forest. Behind them, there was a lake that was extremely still and the chirps of birds were heard. Hope and Josie even observed that the bushes of the trees were shaped weird, nothing like the forest back in Mystic Falls, nothing like the forest in the Bayou.

Hope moved away from the group first, looking around her curiously. She studied the formation of the ground, which some part of the land was higher up than the other. “Where are we?” She turns around and faces the three good fairies first, who were looking in awe, smiling from ear to ear.

Flora looks at her first. “This is our world, Hope.” She gives her a frown of sorts then. “This is also a problem. There’s a dangerous witch here, dark beyond imagination. She’s cursed the entire land, our magic isn’t strong enough to combat her on our own, so we had to put everyone to sleep. This witch, she’s a fairy like us, and she cursed our princess because she wasn’t invited to the christening. The reason why she wasn’t invited, however, was because we all thought she was dead. When she showed up, you could imagine the look of surprise all over our faces.”

Hope moved back towards the fairies and listened intently to the story and so had everyone. Josie walked towards Hope and without noticing, the both of them extended their hands and held on to each other closely. Merryweather spoke then. “There were seven of us fairies in the christening before Maleficent showed up. We all had the most wonderful gifts for the princess. Gifts of beauty, of song, you name it. But when we saw that Maleficent showed up and she saw that she wasn’t receiving the same treatment as us. You see, the king had prepared a feast for us. We had golden seats, golden caskets, diamonds and rubies. It angered her, and that’s why she bewitched the area and the princess, dooming her to die. I had purposely stayed behind, I knew she was up to something bad. I was the one who had tried to reverse Maleficent’s original spell as much as I could, which worked. But the bewitching was something I couldn’t undo. The princess had no choice but to prick her finger. At least she would fall asleep instead of dying. The three of us did try to protect her as much as we could, but  **_when destiny and fate are working hand in hand, you have no choice but to face your fears_ ** .”

Flora and Fauna hugged Merryweather with as much strength as they could muster. They knew that she tried her best, did her best. Hope and Josie looked at one another and then looked at their intertwined hands. Hope pulled away first and Josie grabbed her hand, blushing like there was no tomorrow. Hope noticed and softly laughed, then paid attention again to the fairies. “Is there any way that we could help her?” She looks towards the siphoner and her spirit guides. “I mean, I’m sure there’s a way between our weapons and Lugo and Mira’s powers to help the princess and stop Maleficent’s bewitching, am I right?”

The three good fairies looked at each other and smiled. “Yes, there’s a way. But don’t forget, you two,” Fauna points at both girls. “Got your powers back the second Josie’s sister put her magic back into her. You can use your powers now, Hope.” Hope gasps and looks at Josie. “You took your powers back from the coin?” Josie smiles and nods. “Yeah, I took your advice.”

That made Hope smile brightly.

Speaking of bright things.

At that moment, the smell of fire permeated the area, to which they turned towards the smell and noticed that the path diverged in two. The one on the right is the one that had the smell of fire. They all took one glance at each other and ran towards the fire, the fairies, of course, flew.

A green fire was burning part of the forest. Flora gasped. “This is the way to Maleficent’s domain. She’s awake, we must hurry to the castle! This way!” Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather led the way for Hope, Josie, Lugo, and Mira, heading towards whence they came and to the other path, running towards a cobblestone bridge that led to the most beautiful castle each of the girls had ever seen.

* * *

_ Tulane University - New Orleans, Louisiana - December 1888 _

Terra had finally finished a big part of his project for the  _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ , which was tracing emotional connections. He was still perfecting the data replica research. It was all thanks to Stefan, Lexie, and Klaus that he can say that most of his work is successful and outside of his mind into the real world.

However, Terra came up with something new. He wanted to see if there was a possibility of finding out the dearest persons in one’s heart, or perhaps, even the people that have shaped one’s journey. If he could make this research into a reality, then he can see if he can get this special person and get them inside the  **_heart_ ** and **_mind_ ** of the person that holds them dearly. Maybe even enter their  **_dreams_ ** . With this in mind, he only has one question: What if the  **_heart_ ** was a source of **_power_ ** and  **_thought_ ** ?

He called forth his assistants and told them of his new thoughts, to which they were happy to hear of. Being able to see the people in one’s heart? Putting an essence of a person into another’s heart and mind? Completely unthought of, unheard of. A complete dive to the heart and mind, now that would be something that would shock the entire supernatural community.

The last person that he needed to tell were his patrons, people he considered his friends. He told Klaus first, to which Klaus responded well, with a smile, wishing him well on that success. Rather odd for him, but he took it anyway. Then, he tried to look for Stefan and Lexie, but they were gone from New Orleans. When he tried to find out where the duo had gone, no one knew who they were. Terra thanked everyone he asked and came to one conclusion: compulsion.

He went back to his office and wrote in his journal.

  
  


_ December 22, 1888 _

  
  


_ I have thought of a new component for the Dyrr ut Pathos, one that I deem necessary in order to move forward data replicas and emotional connections: the dive into the heart and mind as well as finding out the person dearest to their heart and the people that have shaped their life journey. Upon thinking of this, I told my assistants, Hjarta and Nous, as well as Klaus, who were all excited about the prospects of such discoveries. I tried to also tell Stefan and Lexie, but it seems like they have compelled the whole city to forget them, as I searched high and low for them, no one knowing who they were.  _

_ I imagine the way the supernatural community will take this into fact. They will be surprised particularly with the dive to the heart and mind. I wonder if I did this experiment on Klaus, who would be his dearest person? Would this person be the same one that would go into his mind and heart, be able to see his vulnerabilities so closely? It’s a curiosity of mine.  _

_ Another thing that I almost forgot to include, I have also told Hermes and Anubis, who have been most accepting of my inventions. They never suggest anything, because they say that it would be revealing the future, so they wait until I come up with the ideas. In regards to my new designs, they say that it’s all going according to that future plan they told me so many years ago. This excites me, it makes me want to be immortal to live out and see this plan of theirs. _

* * *

_ A Bewitched Kingdom - 7 Hours Later _

As they ran down the bridge, the girls looked towards the castle. It was tall, with many towers, and utterly beautiful. But the area around the castle looked dark, and made the castle look gleamy. It’s no wonder to them that the reason why everything looks this… Cataclysmic... Must be because of the spell surrounding the area.

Nothing stopped them from reaching their destination until the fairies stopped in their tracks, in front of a wooden door. The fairies recognized the special enchantment they put on the door to make sure that no one could pass through, assuring for themselves that the princess was safe.

Without hesitation, the fairies swished their wands and the enchantment was released from the door. They all went in, only to see that the princess wasn’t even in her room. Were their efforts to get to the princess all in vain? Were the attempts of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather to protect the princess fruitless? The fairies beyond agonized at this point.

  
  


“Where could she be? T-T-The enchantment. It-It’s impossible!”

  
  


Fauna and Merryweather tried to comfort Flora and so did Lugo and Mira. Hope and Josie stood there, dumbfounded by the situation among them. But just then, the tribrid had an idea.

  
  


“What if I could try and track her down? Maybe then we could find where she’s at?” The way she said it all sounded like a question, like if the fairies wouldn’t agree to the plan, like she was scared they would reject any idea that would lead them to their  **_treasured_ ** princess.

  
  


They all look towards Hope, except for Josie, who is already elaborating a locator spell, by the princess’ vanity near the fireplace. Hope hears what she’s doing and walks towards her. “That’s not going to work unless we have a family member’s blood, and who knows if they’re even in the castle. I can change into my wolf, that’s the best way to track her at the moment.”

She turns towards Flora. “If I changed into my wolf, would my clothes and weapons stay there? I kind of need to know...”

The fairy didn’t really understand Hope’s question all too well, mostly because none of the people that she’s ever assisted before have been of this kind of supernatural, but she told the tribrid yes. All the confirmation that Hope needed in order to avoid having someone hold her clothes and weapons while she leads them to wherever the princess was.

  
  


“Do you have anything that belonged to the princess?”

  
  


The fairies look at each other and look towards her vanity. “Josie, grab anything from there. All of that belongs to Princess Aurora.”

Josie looks around and sees a hairbrush. She waited until Hope turned into her wolf form to let her get as much of the scent as possible. Sauntering over to the door, Hope waited for someone to open it. She doesn’t know exactly where the princess could be, which haunts her deep inside, but she knows that the scent is going to lead her somewhere dangerous. She hopes that everyone’s prepared for the battle.

As they all follow Hope, Josie is the last one to leave and close the door behind them. She’s the one that stays farther from the others, with only one thing on her mind. How far is she willing to go to retrieve the princess? Will the darkness consume her again?

* * *

_ Salvatore Boarding School - 10 Hours Later _

The Mikaelsons, along with Bonnie and Lizzie, have gathered as much information as they can on possible answers within Norse Mythology. But something was missing. No information talked about what the Dark Elf told them. What if everything was a lie? What if everything was a  **_dream_ ** ?

Lizzie couldn’t handle this anymore. She read a lot of information, a lot of myths ― and yet, nothing was going to help get her sister back. To her, Josie was gone forever. Inside her own mind. And Hope. Her effort to save her sister in vain.

In the midst of Lizzie’s morbid thoughts, Bonnie and Freya were working together. The witches, just like the siphoner, had read a lot of myths that could potentially help them in regards to other affairs, but nothing that would save their nieces.

Freya groaned out loud and slammed the table, which startled Bonnie. “Everything in here is a BUST, nothing is going to help us get Hope and Josie back. All these myths, all those grimoires,” she points towards a shelf behind the witch. “Nothing here is going to help us.”

But, just as the school is built with magic that the twins can siphon from, so are some books. At that moment, one fell down right in front of Bonnie. Everyone heard the thump, got up, and headed towards Bonnie. Lizzie was on her left-hand side, while Freya, Rebekah, Keelin, Kol, Davina, and Marcel were on her right.

It wasn’t a book at all, but rather a leather journal. Bonnie grabbed it and examined it carefully. “This looks so much like the journals Stefan had.” Freya and her siblings looked at it intently as well. Freya touches it delicately. “These also look similar to the ones Klaus and Elijah had,” to which Rebekah and Kol nodded. Rebekah interjected then. “Bonnie, I think you should be the one to open it, it fell in front of you for a reason.”

Bonnie looks at her and nods. With precision and diligence, she removes the string that had the journal tightly wrapped around.

A gasp.

The journal in question said, on the front cover, “ _ αυτό το περιοδικό ανήκει στην terra maxwell ... και σε όλους όσους έγραψαν μετά από αυτόν _ ”

  
  


一This journal belongs to Terra Maxwell… and everyone who wrote in after him.

Two different handwritings…

* * *

_ A Bewitched Kingdom - 13 Hours Later _

All in all, it took them a lot longer to track Princess Aurora than it did for the three good fairies to get them to the castle. Hope was trying her best, but at times, the trail went dim. Like if someone was preventing them from being able to find her. They first had to pass through the area in the forest where the fire was, which was no longer there but the stains of black from it permeated throughout.

Here, it took Hope some more time to get them out of here. The smell of the fire was strong and it was difficult to discern at times what was Aurora’s scent and where Aurora’s scent was, as well as if it had disappeared briefly. The three good fairies, however, knew exactly where they were headed. They already knew where Aurora was, but they were terrified to say it out loud.

At long last, they left the path of the burnt forest and saw what laid ahead of them. A stone path leading to a medieval castle. By the looks of the exterior, it looked older than the castle Princess Aurora lived in.

It was then that Lugo and Mira decided that it was a good time to talk about their masters, as they had told Hope they would. A time that felt so long ago to them.

Lugo started with everything. “Well, Josie, you weren’t there when we had this conversation, neither were you three,” he looks towards the fairies. “But basically, we told Hope that we would tell her about our masters, a little bit of the mythology tied to her roots as well.”

Hope growled, Lugo and Mira picked up that she was annoyed. Of course they did, they’re in the shape of wolves. But this was an important lesson. “Let's first start with Anubis and Hermes. Hermes is a god, but he also acts as a psychopomp. He takes souls into the Underworld.. Just like we do. He’s a god that protects travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He’s the god of messengers, trade, fertility―”

  
  


“And  **_sleep_ ** . There’s more to him, but yeah, that’s the basis of it.”

  
  


Lugo and Mira look at each other, a brief hint of worry in their eyes. They turn towards Josie. “You know Greek Mythology?”

Josie looks around before facing them again and nodding. “I also know a bit about other kinds of mythologies. What else is in your lesson?”

Mira picks up for Lugo. “Do you know anything about Anubis, Osiris, and Hades?”

Josie nods. “I know Anubis is the god of mummification and the afterlife. Isn’t he also a bit similar to the psychopomp, since he also is a patron for lost souls?”

They were getting close to the castle at this point. Hope was excited that she could finally turn back and get Lugo and Mira to be quiet. It was a great lesson, but if anyone had good hearing, like she did, they would have already heard this conversation and had plotted something already, which meant they would be walking in like sitting ducks. On the other hand, listening to Josie talk about mythology was a plus for her, so she wanted the conversation to continue. It was complicated.

The fairies were listening to Lugo, Mira, and Josie talk to distract themselves from the terrible thoughts in their minds. All they could think about was how powerful Maleficent is right now. If she was able to surpass their enchantment on the door, what else couldn’t she do? They hope that the weapons and Josie and Hope’s powers combined could help along with their own.

Lugo signaled to Josie in acknowledgment. “Yes, he is.” He looks in front of him. “I can see that we’re getting close to the castle, we can all discuss some more once we finish here.”

At long last, the castle gates were in front of them. Flora gasped and swished her wand, which made them all get small, to the size of a thumb. And it was right in the middle of Hope switching back into her human form as well, freaking her out. “Did you really have to do that right in the middle of switching?” She pats on her legs and her head, looking at herself from head to toe and seeing that her clothes and weapons are back in place, as if she never turned into a wolf. “Huh, seems like these clothes are indestructible.”

  
  


“My apologies, dear. And of course, they’re indestructible because they’ll protect you from the  **_darkness_ ** . I didn’t know that it would not break once you turned into a wolf, but if it did, it wouldn’t have been a problem. We would have constructed it for you again.”

  
  


Josie looked around in fear. Even the word sends her into thinking about what happened.

The fairies knew they would need to come up with a plan. Flora carried out the thoughts the three of them reasoned through on the way to Maleficent’s domain. “We need to stay like this in order to maneuver through the castle. If we stay in our original size, we can easily be spotted. Especially you two,” she points towards Josie and Hope “since you have weapons. Once we make it near Aurora, we can turn back and leave with her.”

  
  


“But if we turn back, doesn’t that mean we could be spotted? Wouldn’t it be easier if we made her small like us and just leave with her?” What Hope said made sense to the rest of the group, but the fairies were not having it.

  
  


“No, she’ll most likely be asleep and I don’t think we can carry her between all of us.”

  
  


“You underestimate the strength of a werewolf.” The tribrid crosses her arms. The fairies wouldn’t know what that’s like, but they weren’t going to risk it.

  
  


“We could find a way to do it all through magic. If there are portals here, then we can use magic to make a portal from here to the castle, yeah?”

  
  


Everyone began to look at Josie, who was still shaky and now shy. The plan was perfect and they were all on board with it. That’s what they would do, create a portal that could take them back without being spotted.

They headed inside. They went through corridors and walls that more often than not were a bit ruptured and separated in various areas, the possibility of falling in places they couldn’t get out of higher with each step. Every movement they did came with fear and possible moments where they would be caught.

The dungeon was in their vicinity now. The top, heading into the dungeon, had a hole that they could go in through. When they got inside, they saw that Princess Aurora was there. She was still fast asleep, nothing had changed on that part. She was sleeping and right next to her was Maleficent, watching her intently.

Flora told them all to be quiet and not make a sound until she left. Maleficent let out a cackle. “No one will ever find you here, “ _ princess _ ,” not even your precious godmothers.”

No one dared to make a sound. No one, not even Merryweather, who was internally getting angrier and angrier by the minute. Maleficent bangs her staff, cackles again, and leaves.

The group gets inside the moment they see that Maleficent left. Flora swishes her wand to get back to her normal size, then performs the spell on everyone else. Feeling like themselves, they’re all glad that they’re not small anymore. Merryweather is the first to move, heading towards Princess Aurora and looking at her.

She lets out a tear, but quickly wipes it away. “It’s time. We need to create the portal now.”

And that’s what the three good fairies do, with Hope and Josie’s help.

The portal appeared right in front of them. This time, the portal was clear in the sphere, with Princess Aurora’s castle shown.

They all touched it and off they went with the Princess, to take her back home.

Or so they thought.

* * *

_ Tulane University - New Orleans, Louisiana - July 1900 _

It had been a total of two years since Hjarta and Nous began to work for Terra. In that time period, they had helped him construct the _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ to further greatness. At this point, the  _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ is almost complete. It can replicate a person into data, can trace emotional connections, and create data out of emotional connections, making complete profiles on multiple supernatural beings. And they both assisted in that. They even helped with the newer research: entering someone’s  **_heart_ ** ,  **_mind_ ** , and  **_dreams_ ** , being able to see the people that are dear to your heart and have shaped your life journey.

As they are headed to the lab, they have no idea what’s happening to Terra. At this very moment, Terra is being burned to death for his research.

Finally arriving at the lab, they saw black smoke coming out, which made them worried. They open the door and they find a woman standing over the burnt corpse of their mentor. The woman faces them and smiles slyly towards them.

  
  


“And who might you two young men be?” She gets closer.

  
  


“We’re his apprentices. Did you do this?” Hjarta gets closer to the woman, pointing towards his burnt mentor. If she was going to try and be intimidating, then so would he.

  
  


“Perhaps I did. Your mentor’s research was too dangerous. I had to destroy it and him, I can’t let this continue any further. His research is our destruction,  **_she_ ** is our ultimate downfall. I’m ensuring for us all that she will never return. You see, I know you two wouldn’t believe me when I say this, but I’m coming from the future. Resurrected. In this timeline, I’m perfectly alive, most likely training with other witches, with no trace of knowing that I would one day befriend Rebekah Mikaelson and that she would ruin my life. But where are my manners? I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Genevieve.”

  
  


At the mention of the name “Mikaelson,” Nous puts his hand on Hjarta’s shoulder. But Hjarta pushes his hand away and smirks. “I don’t care what your plan is, but I can tell you for sure that it won’t work.”

Genevieve looked at Hjarta quite curiously. “And what makes you so sure?”

A laugh. “That’s my little secret.”

A blast of a strong light filled the whole room, an intense scream was heard all around, and Genevieve was gone.

Hjarta and Nous walk towards Terra’s body. He was completely burned, mouth open. But it was all part of the plan, they knew this from the start. No, before the start, before they became his apprentices.

A portal shrouded in light opened up behind them and two men came out.

  
  


“He’s finally dead?”

  
  


Nous turns towards the figure that spoke. “Yes.”

A laugh. “Good. Continue his research. Do not fail the master plan. Do not fail me.” The figure turns around and opens a portal.

  
  


“Is…  _ He _ going to come and help us as well.”

  
  


The individual turns around. “Yes.” And off they leave.

  
  


“Grab the journal, it’s time we put our mark on it, continue the research, and leave it for the next user. We must protect the journal until then, make sure that Anubis, Hermes, and Odin don’t know what we’re going to do next. We shall help those girls defy **_fate_ ** once again.”

  
  


Nous runs over to Terra’s desk and grabs the secret journal. Hjarta took it from him and began writing.

  
  


_ July 26, 1900 _

_ Today, Terra Maxwell passed away as was predicted that he would. The two of us had known, but pretended we didn’t know a thing in front of Genevieve. We had to keep our disguise even after his death. We will continue his research because it is vital for our personal mission at hand, not the mission of Anubis, Odin, and Hermes. We will make sure that the data replicas can show who are the dearest people in someone’s heart, who are the people that shaped said person’s journey, and be able to put someone in their heart, mind, or dreams. Furthermore, we can even attempt to construct a way to find out where the person within the person is in with the same fastenings that are used to identify and trace connections. We will start by creating a guide for the user. Not many users for the Dyrr ut Pathos will exist beyond this, we will be writing out the guide for one specific user. Bonnie Bennett, if you read this, the journal is yours now. This journal will be for your use to utilize the Dyrr ut Pathos to the fullest and be able to foresee what will happen to Josie Saltzman and Hope Mikaelson. Hermes, Anubis, and Odin have fabricated an  _ **_evil_ ** _ , a  _ **_darkness_ ** _ , with a plot that thickens each and every day. Beginning with Malivore, continuing with Hypnos at some point, and ending with every monster and world that you humans call myths and fairy tales. Your niece and her… Friend are in danger. You and the others are the users that can use the Dyrr ut Pathos to replicate the data of your niece’s friend. The data will be connected to her, if she’s with your niece, you will be able to see her as well. You’ll be able to see everything about Hope: the people closest to her heart, her emotional connections, the people that have shaped her journey, even how she’s doing inside Josie’s subconscious… Unfortunately, not until they finish their challenges, challenges created by Anubis, Hermes, and Odin, will they be able to free themselves, return to the world they came from, and therefore, return to their bodies. You will know when that end is, I can assure you. Until then, make sure that your mind is protected and that no one can see that you’ve read this. We will do our part and make sure the gods don’t know we have written this for you. _

_ In Comradery, _

_ Baldr and Apollo. _

* * *

_ Salvatore Boarding School - 20 Hours Later _

Bonnie was able to read most of the contents of the journal, but what struck her the most was the journal entry they left to her.

It was difficult to swallow that the same man that had created the  _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ was related to the man that had tortured her best friends. Wes Maxfield. What an unforgettable, horrible person. But it was more difficult to swallow that she would be able to see Hope and Josie and not be able to say or do anything. She had read it out loud to the Mikaelsons and to Lizzie, who had stayed bewildered and sad.

  
  


“Well, there’s our answer. Guess we just have to be here like sitting ducks.” Freya hit the table and ran out, Keelin and Rebekah going after her. Kol was being held by Davina and Marcel was looking at the ground just like Lizzie, trying not to let their feelings swallow them whole.

  
  


Bonnie didn’t know what to do. But she didn’t have much time to think about anything in regards to the situation because just then, she heard a scream. She looked to Lizzie first and then towards Marcel, Davina, and Kol. They ran after Marcel and Kol, who had the supernatural hearing.

They got to the front of the school, where Rebekah and Keelin were talking to these.. Figures. 

The figures were six women. They all had threads of some kind that they were holding. That’s how Bonnie figured out who they were. She walked all the way to the middle of it all.

  
  


“You’re the Fates.”

  
  


One of them smiled. “We’re not just the Fates, dearie. We’re also the Norns, we have the same job as the Fates, but we’re Norse.”

Bonnie looks at them intently. “And what do you have to do here?”

The same woman stared with the potency Bonnie was giving her. “We’re here to tell you that today is the day you will all lose.” A slight gasp that only Keelin, Marcel, and Kol could hear came from Rebekah. “Today is the day that you will all see your precious Josie and Hope get ripped apart limb from limb.”

They all stayed frozen at first, but mobilized quickly once the shock hit. Freya, Bonnie, Lizzie, and Davina got together and began to mutter an incantation while Keelin, Kol, and Marcel tried to strike peacefully.

The Norns and the Fates were more perceptive than that, however. Channeling the power of photokinesis, a power that was not their own, they were able to use the light to send them to another place, where they were forced to watch everything happening to Hope and Josie.

* * *

_ A Bewitched Kingdom - 18 Hours Later _

The three good fairies, the spirit guides, Josie, and Hope had taken the portal. It all went rather quickly. Once they stepped out of the portal, however, they realized they weren’t at Princess Aurora’s castle at all. They were still in Maleficent’s, in the middle of her throne room.

Fauna looked around nervously. “How is this possible? The portal showed us the castle!”

Hope walked away from the group slightly, looked around, and crossed her arms. “It was hijacked.”

  
  


“Correct.”

  
  


Maleficent’s voice rang around the throne room. The girls drew their weapons; Hope the sword of Achilles and Josie Parazonium, while the fairies brought out their wands. Lugo and Mira got in a pouncing position, growling. A tower of hellfire shone bright around Maleficent’s throne until she appeared, staff in hand.

  
  


“I did intercede in the portal spell you created. You see, I already knew you were here. I have some friends that told me everything about this situation that you’re in.” The fairy looks at Hope and Josie, smirking. “If only you two knew of the bigger plan of it all. Oh well, you’ll find out soon enough.” This made Hope and Josie look at each other questioningly. What was Maleficent even talking about?

  
  


“As I was saying, I intervened in the portal spell to make it transport you here. I can’t let you leave with Aurora, she’s the  **_pure light_ ** of this world and her **_heart_ ** is mine.”

  
  


“Not if we have anything to do about it.” Hope pointed the sword at Maleficent.

  
  


Maleficent cackles. “You think you’re so brave, pointing that pathetic sword at me. Let’s see how brave you’ll be now. Today is the end for you all. Behold, the mistress of all evil!”

A massive amount of energy swelled from Maleficent’s staff, creating a vortex of hellfire and thunder. She turned into the vortex itself and went straight for the girls. The fairies got small again and swirled around Maleficent, while Lugo and Mira stood in front of Hope and Josie.

Lugo turned back and looked at the tribrid and the siphoner. “Together.” They nodded. Josie siphoned from Hope and worked on a spell while bursts of  **_light_ ** and  **_darkness_ ** from the spirit guides hit Maleficent with full force.

She returned to her original form and flew backward, hitting the stairs leading to her throne. She was knocked out. “Josie, now’s our chance.”

Hope and Josie began another spell, but Maleficent quickly rose. “Did you really think that combining  **_light_ ** and **_darkness_ ** would hurt me?” Josie visibly flinched and Hope noticed. “I know how to control the  **_darkness_ ** to never let it consume my  **_heart_ ** .” She looked right at Josie when she said that. “Unlike some people.”

Golden eyes stared at Maleficent and speed charged right for her, a sword to her neck. “I dare you to say that again.”

Maleficent laughed. “So protective.” The fairy stares the tribrid down until she uses her staff to send a jolt of thunder at Hope. Hope flies back, but her feet hit a wall farther out from the circle and she uses that to jump upward, flip, and land in front of Lugo and Mira. The gold from her wolf eyes hasn’t left her face.

  
  


“None of you will win today, none of you will win tomorrow. None of you will ever go back to your worlds. You will all die here and your bodies will perish, with no heart, with no soul. It’s all very simple.” She cackles.

  
  


Josie was shaking. This whole fight wasn’t helping her out one bit. She’s scared, she’s scared that Dark Josie will come out again, she’s scared that Dark Josie will take over and she has to use all her **_strength_ ** and  **_power_ ** , her  **_heart_ ** and  **_mind_ ** , to snap Dark Josie and gain control. It took many thoughts and self-reassurance for her to speak. “No, we won’t. We’ll win and we’ll go on to the next world. I’m the key and I say so, I’m getting Hope and I out of here.”

Just when Josie was going to begin her spell, Maleficent took the chance to do a counterspell, and then everything went dark.

The darkness went away. They were still in Maleficent’s throne room, Princess Aurora had disappeared. The three good fairies cried out. Hope went up to them. “Don’t worry, she’s just playing tricks on our minds. She’s probably still here.”

  
  


“On the contrary, Hope Mikaelson. She’s awake.”

  
  


Maleficent appeared, sitting on her throne. “None of you have noticed, but we’re in the future. You’re not fighting me anymore.” She smirks. “You see, it’s been 10 years, I took you that deep in time. Aurora has had kids and now I control them.”

Merryweather came out from behind the group, where Flora and Fauna had to grab her. “What have you done, Maleficent? Let those kids go!”

  
  


“Why, certainly, that’s what I plan to do.” She smiles and moves her hand, glowing with the force of darkness.

  
  


In a moment, Aurora’s children ㅡ two girls ㅡ appeared in front of them, shrouded in darkness. Josie felt bad for them. They, too, became pawns of the darkness.

  
  


“I promise, I’ll release you from the darkness.” After the siphoner said that, Hope stared at her, sadness in the tribrid’s eyes.

  
  


No spells worked on the girls, they always found a way to use the darkness as a shield to protect themselves. The weapons didn’t work on them either. After what seemed like forever, the fairies, the spirit guides, and the girls were beginning to give up. The power of light was not enough, neither was the darkness that Lugo and Mira embraced.

Maleficent noticed that the group was tiring, that they were giving up. It was exactly as how the Fates and the Norns predicted. So, she did the next thing they had predicted. In a flash, without none of them noticing, Maleficent left her throne and stood behind the girls.

  
  


“Your precious light and your fear of the darkness will do nothing to protect them.” It was then that Maleficent went for the heart of the girls and ripped them out, their bodies dropping instantly. Hellfire and thunder surrounded Maleficent’s figure, blood pooling around her hands from the hearts and falling to the ground.

  
  


Some of the blood landed on the group, but it was Josie who was the most impacted by it all. She started shaking, having a panic attack, she dropped to the floor. Hope rushed over and knelt next to Josie. “Jo, what’s going on? Talk to me.”

It all went fast from there. The fairies were crying out, the spirit guides had gone to fight against Maleficent and charged at her, Hope was helping the siphoner out. Something deep was stirring in Josie. It was Dark Josie indeed, but not exactly. “I’m left with no other choice. I’m going to release the power of my _**heart**_ and my _**mind** _ㅡ the _**darkness**_ that I’ve been afraid of, the _**darkness**_ that I’ve put away. I need to do this, even if it will change me forever.”

Gently, she urged Hope to move aside and with anger, she got up and began to march towards Maleficent. Everyone was frozen, watching Josie manifest dark and nature magic in one, as she blasted Maleficent with fire, fire shrouded in light and darkness. Maleficent cried out, incinerating and dying on the spot.

With Maleficent’s death came the unraveling of all her enchantments. They went back in time, and the kingdom was saved. This time, the portal they created took them straight back to Princess Aurora’s castle, where they went inside and saw that everyone was awake, including Aurora. The fairies went to her, hugged her, and told her that they would be gone for some time, protecting the key. Aurora looked at Josie and Hope, prompting her to smile. She wished the fairies a good journey and off they went to find the next portal. 

Back at the Salvatore School, the Mikaelsons, Bonnie, and Lizzie watched everything unfold, tears streaming down their cheeks. Hope, Josie, and the rest of the group had done it. They defeated the evil and restored a whole kingdom, all while Josie got one step closer to working out her trauma from her time as Dark Josie. The Fates and the Norns were in the room with them, but without them knowing. They screamed out, realizing that their plans had been thwarted and that Odin and Hermes would be upset. It was time to face them and accept the consequences of their failure. They left without a trace. The  _ Dyrr ut Pathos _ was roaring quietly, Inadu and Dahlia desperately trying to escape the world of data.

Once the group had arrived at the portal, Josie told everyone she needed a breather and sat down.

  
  


“I can’t believe I did that today. I can’t believe I let them die.”

  
  


Hope sat next to her. “Jo, you didn’t let them die. None of us knew that she was going to appear out of nowhere and try to harm those girls. And it was a fabricated future. Those girls aren’t born yet, they’ll be fine. I promise you, they’re not going to get hurt and no one else will.”

The fairies and the spirit guides also went up to Josie and nodded, affirming that what Hope said was the truth. It was this moment that Hope and Josie looked at each other and the tribrid smiled first. “We’re here at the portal because of you. You _**faced your fears and trauma of the darkness by embracing light and dark**_. It’s still a process, because we know that your trauma isn’t gone, but we’re here for you, especially me. We couldn’t have done this without you.”

Hope got up and joined the fairies and her spirit guides, who were in front of the portal. She turns around to face Josie, extending her arm with her hand out. Josie looks at it for what seems like forever. She gets up and runs towards Hope, grabbing her hand.

But before they could leave, something fell in the middle of all of them. When they looked, they noticed that it was a leather journal. Josie picked it up and unstrapped the leather bands that were wrapped around the journal. Before Josie could open it, however, Hope stopped her. “What if this is a trap? We can’t open this journal… It looks so much like my dad’s.”

Lugo interjected then. “If it’s a trap, then we’ll face it all together. We’re a team now.”

They all looked at each other and nodded in acknowledgment. So, Josie opened the journal. The words began to rearrange themselves, Lugo and Mira gasping, recognizing the letters.

The words popped up again, but in English.

一This journal belongs to Terra Maxwell… and everyone who wrote in after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed the chapter. as you can already see, and you'll know if you follow my twitter, this is what i meant by combining different versions of the fairy tale stories and making them darker.
> 
> by the way, speaking of twitter, mine is @k3ytoev3rything.


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